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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24172018">Hunted</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostfox11/pseuds/ghostfox11'>ghostfox11</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Rookie (TV 2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Eventual Romance, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post Season 2, Serial Killer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 04:09:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>40,772</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24172018</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostfox11/pseuds/ghostfox11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim never let his emotions effect the job. Ever. He had taught her to do the same. But now it felt as though they were both falling apart at the seams. It was expected from her, she was the one with the potential target on her back. Tim on the other hand? She knew he cared about her. They were friends. Yet she couldn’t help but feel as though something else was bothering him.</p><p>Rosalind Dyer escapes from prison and makes it clear that she is coming after Lucy.</p><p>COMPLETED</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>434</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>741</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So with it officially being hiatus I thought I would start a multi-chapter to help see me through it. I apologize for any inaccuracies when it comes to the policing, like the show I'm using some creative license.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lucy ran through the precinct, a thermos of coffee in one hand and her work bag in the other. She had slept through her alarm and, since Jackson had stayed at Sterling’s, there had been no one to wake her up. That had been the start to her terrible day. She had then been unable to find a clean pair of socks and her car had refused to start the first three tries.</p><p>Overall, she was stressed and flustered, and really wished she could just crawl back into bed and start the day again.</p><p>But she was a cop and had finished training less than a month ago. There was no way she could be late.</p><p>She raced into the locker room, changed in record time and with a minute to spare collapsed into her usual seat in the roll-call room.</p><p>“What happened to you?” Jackson asked, “Up all night with Emmet again?”</p><p>Lucy huffed. Just last week Jackson had caught her on a walk of shame, arriving at the apartment only to collect her work bag before heading to the precinct. Little did he know she had broken up with Emmet last night. But that was need to know at the minute.</p><p>“No, actually my mother decided to call for a check in,” she scoffed using finger quotations to show how she really felt about her mother’s “check ins.” What a typical mother would call checking in- How are you? Is work going well? Her mother preferred a grilling over what her relationship status was like. For a psychologist, she didn’t seem to mind that the grilling meant her daughter wouldn’t get enough sleep, which would cause her even more stress. Lucy often thought her mother should have been a psychic instead, after all she had phoned her to ask her if she was bringing a boyfriend to her cousin’s wedding three minutes after she had broken up with her planned plus one.</p><p>“Luce have you seen the news this morning?” Nolan asked.</p><p>Lucy noticed then that there was a definite tension in the room, stern faces, concern. Jackson wasn’t even looking her in the eye, and she knew he often blurted jokes when the situation was tense. Her stomach plummeted.</p><p>Come to think of it, traffic had been worse than usual on her way in. Thankfully, she lived close enough for it to not be too much of a bother, so she hadn’t put any thought into it at the time beyond it fitting in with the type of day she was having.</p><p>Nolan must have sensed her confusion for he clarified, “There was a fire at Central California’s Women facility half an hour ago. Rumor has it at least one prisoner escaped.”</p><p>A prisoner escape was never good. “That would explain a lot,” Lucy muttered.  </p><p>Grey walked in at that moment and Lucy felt her heart begin to race as he was followed by a woman she didn’t recognize. From the air of confidence she carried and her professional business suit, Lucy assumed she was a person of authority. From the way she felt the officers around her sit up just a bit straighter, it was clear that some of them knew who she was. Her guess was FBI.</p><p>Whoever she was, one thing was certain: the rumors were true.</p><p>“Alright, alright,” Grey began, before he had even reached the podium. “I’m sure you’ve all seen it on the news already. At 0600 this morning a fire started in Central California’s Woman’s Facility. Fire services worked quickly to bring it under control and thankfully there are no confirmed fatalities as of yet. However, prisoner 081316 whereabouts are unknown.”</p><p>Lucy felt her heart fall through the floor. She had that prisoner’s number memorized. A strange buzzing sound filled her ears and she wasn’t sure if she was going to be sick or pass out. Maybe both. Breathing was her sole focus, so much so that she barely even noticed as every set of eyes in the room turned to look at her as Sergeant Grey confirmed her fear.</p><p>“Now with our precinct’s previous connections to Rosalyn Dyer, the FBI have insisted on using our assistance alongside the neighboring precincts to help with the search.”</p><p>“How do you know she didn’t die in the fire?” Tim shouted from the back of the room over the breakout in chatter.</p><p>“We don’t Officer Bradford,” Grey answered, “but, although it was large enough to cause problems, the fire for the most part was contained and the damage very minimal.”</p><p> “Which leaves us with the assumption that among the chaos Rosalind found a way out.” The woman finished.</p><p>She nodded to Grey who stepped back to allow her the podium. She was tall for a woman, only an inch or two shorter that Sergeant Grey and whilst her long blonde hair and bright blue eyes might have gathered attention of another kind, standing before them she looked intimidating in a way that demanded she be listened to rather than stared at.</p><p>Lucy felt a stir of admiration toward her, but it was overshadowed by the heavy weight settling in her chest.</p><p>“For those who don’t know me my name is Agent Johnson, I’m with the FBI and I’ll be leading this investigation.”</p><p>Lucy was sure Agent Johnson was giving out information on the case, she was positive that it was important and that she should be listening, but she couldn’t focus beyond the terror that gripped her.</p><p>Instead she only caught snippets. Blockades and door to door searching. How the FBI were combing through all communication Rosalind had with the outside world. How they were tracking down any known family or alliances in the area.</p><p>The rundown continued but she couldn’t think past one glaring detail that Agent Johnson was avoiding. It may have been Caleb who picked Lucy, who drugged her and left her to die in that barrel, but Rosalind viewed her as one of her own kills. And she had escaped. She didn’t need a degree in psychology to know that most serial killers had one thing in common: they didn’t like it when one of their victims got away.</p><p>As though reading Lucy’s mind, Sergeant Grey stood forward to face her. “Now I know this case is personal to many of you,” Grey began, “Officer Chen, if you wish to go home, no one will blame you.”</p><p>“I should point out,” Agent Johnson interrupted, “So far there is no indication to suggest that Rosalind will make you a target. There is no reason to believe that she started the fire. Her escape was opportunistic, not planned. Chances are she’s making her plan up as she goes and running will be her priority. However-”</p><p>The words didn’t need to be said. Lucy knew the entire room was thinking the same thing. The woman was a psychopath. Logic for most criminals would be escape but for Rosalind…  </p><p>Lucy’s mouth opened and shut of its own accord. Did she want to go home? She turned to look at her friends beside her and upon seeing Nolan she remembered when he was green-lit. He hadn’t backed down. He’d stayed and fought. She had admired him for it and so how could she be any different?  </p><p>“I’m not running from this. But I don’t want to put anyone else’s life in danger by riding with me.”</p><p>“I’ll ride with her,” Tim spoke from the back of the room.</p><p>Lucy turned to face him. Their eyes met, a look of determination on both of their faces, “No,” she demanded. “I’m not going to be responsible for-”</p><p>“You won’t be responsible, I’m volunteering,” Tim retorted. The entire room watched as they stared it out. Lucy knew that any argument of hers was useless. Tim was a Sergeant on Patrol; he was the most senior officer who could ride with her and therefore on paper the best at keeping both of them safe. He had trained her, they made a good team, it made sense that they rode the shift together. But Lucy couldn’t escape the way her heart clenched at the thought of how sitting in the patrol car with him would be putting his life at risk. Their job carried enough risk as it was, she didn’t want to add to the danger he was in.</p><p>Before she could think of anything to say that might make a difference, Grey cleared his throat, calling attention back to himself.</p><p>“That’s that decided then,” he concluded.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Lucy and Tim had been assigned to help with one of the blockades that monitored the exits of the city. Lucy knew it was the safer option. They would, after all, be surrounded by other cops. It didn’t mean that she wasn’t still terrified.</p><p>Rosalind was one woman, she tried to tell herself. One woman. In the slim chance that they found her there was no reason to suspect that she wouldn’t be able to overpower her herself, never mind with Tim as her backup and the fact they were with so many officers. </p><p>But just thinking about the serial killer triggered all sorts of horrific memories from that day with Caleb. The moment she knew she had been drugged.  Waking up to the sound of the tattoo gun. The burn of the pepper spray. Climbing into the barrel and trying to convince herself that she wasn’t climbing to her death. The crippling fear as it got harder to breathe. She knew it wasn’t possible, but she felt as though her tattoo was burning.</p><p>“Officer Chen,” Tim interrupted her spiraling as they approached the shop. Lucy looked across the bonnet at him. “If you’re not up to this I’ll drive you home, tell Grey myself. No one else needs to know. You don’t need to play the hero for them.” He nodded back towards the precinct and Lucy felt herself soften at the concern on Tim’s face. He was giving her an out that wouldn’t make her look bad in front of her colleagues, all but admitting that he wouldn’t think less of her if she took it.</p><p>Lucy shook her head. Whilst a level of pride had been responsible when she agreed to work the shift, now the idea of returning to an empty apartment all alone was enough to give her focus to stay. “No, I need this,” she confessed.</p><p>Tim must have read the desperation on her face for he didn’t push her and instead climbed in the car.</p><p>“She’s out there Tim. I know we don’t know for sure but it’s obvious isn’t it? She’s out there,” Lucy confessed as they pulled out from the station.</p><p>“We’ve got every cop in the city looking for her. It’s 10,000 to one,” Tim replied. Lucy looked over at him. His hands were gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles were white. His jaw was clenched. He looked like he was preparing for war rather than manning a blockade.</p><p>They fell into an uncomfortable silence. She usually felt at home in the shop with him. They knew each other well enough that words didn’t usually require saying. Now she was aching to fill the silence, to gain even the tiniest hint as to what he was thinking. Tim never let his emotions effect the job. Ever. He had taught her to do the same. But now it felt as though they were both falling apart at the seams. It was expected from her, she was the one with the potential target on her back. Tim on the other hand? She knew he cared about her. They were friends. Yet she couldn’t help but feel as though something else was bothering him. A memory of a previous conversation came back to her.</p><p>“Tell me you didn’t volunteer for this out of guilt Tim?” She asked.</p><p>Tim turned to look at her as he parked the car next to the others at the blockade. She couldn’t read him, and she realized that he had pulled up the Sergeant Tim Bradford façade and was closing her out. Closing the world out to do his job. It steadied her as much as it hurt her.</p><p>“It wasn’t out of guilt.” He didn’t clarify any further.</p><p>He left the car before Lucy could reply. She knew her kidnapping had affected him too. He hadn’t spoken about it much past his reluctance to give her relationship advice, but she knew it still weighed on him.  Whilst Jackson and John had told her how scared they had been, and they hadn’t left her alone for a month before she told them they were suffocating her, Tim had been more subtle. More than once Rachel had told her how he asked about her. John had too. So even if he was insisting that he wasn’t acting out of guilt, she wasn’t sure that she believed him.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>They barely spoke to each other as they searched the cars, but Lucy could feel the tension building around them. It was like a fog rolling in, coating everything in a dark, murky haze. It was both blinding and suffocating. There was a line of traffic queuing down the street and, since they didn’t have official word of Rosalind’s escape, they couldn’t provide the public with any information as to why their vehicles were being searched other than as part of “an active police investigation.” They could only politely ask for permission and offer vague descriptions of what the woman they were looking for looked like. It was getting them nowhere.</p><p>Every minute that ticked by with no news increased Rosalind’s likelihood of success and decreased their chance of catching her. The tension finally erupted in the worst way. A crackle from the radios announced an update from Sergeant Grey. The prison had been thoroughly searched and it was official: Rosalind was free.</p><p>Lucy froze and felt her body fade into numbness. She had accepted back in-roll call that it was only a matter of time before they got word, but the confirmation offered no comfort. Tim on the other hand cursed violently, making her jump. The other officers turned to the noise but, seeing that it was Tim, resumed their searching without question.</p><p>Lucy approached him from where he was standing a few feet away having just let a car drive on. Another car pulled up between them before she got a chance to talk to him.</p><p>Now that they could explain to the public that there was a serial killer on the loose, should have made their job easier.  But for the owner of the red Ferrari that pulled between them it didn’t matter who they were looking for.</p><p>“Right!” the angry blonde shouted at Lucy as she rolled her window down half-way, “What the fuck is all this about I have a meeting to get to that I’m already late for!”</p><p>She was cut off by Tim banging his fist down on the roof of the car. The woman turned in outrage and rolled down her passenger window to shout at him, but she didn’t get a word out before Tim demanded in a calm, intimidating voice, “Listen mam, your meeting can wait. A serial killer has escaped, so if you think your meeting is more important than the families of her victims, or the potential lives that are now in danger, then be my guest, shout away. But, if you have even a hint of decent human respect, then I suggest you calmly and quietly allow us to do our jobs. Now step out of the vehicle.”</p><p>The car was too small for Rosalyn to possibly be hiding in it, but Lucy let Tim have his moment. After a few minutes of exaggerated searching of the car Tim let her drive away, cursing about late she now was.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>They searched cars for nearly three hours with no luck. Lucy was trying to fight the feeling of doom that was slowly overtaking her, whilst watching Tim who still looked as though he was going to punch something or someone. They had no leads. No one had seen anything suspicious and no one recognized Rosalind beyond seeing her on news bulletins.</p><p>She was ready to rant to Tim about how pointless this felt when a woman pulled her car over to them. Lucy noticed straight away that something was wrong from the look on the woman’s face.</p><p>“Are you Officer Lucy Chen?” the woman asked, pointing at Lucy’s name badge.</p><p>Tim must have sensed something was going on for he appeared at Lucy’s side. “Why?” he demanded.</p><p>“I have something for you.” The woman held an envelope out.</p><p>Tim immediately pulled Lucy away from the car and behind him. He removed a pair of gloves from his vest and put them on before he took the offered item. “Where did you get this?” He asked.</p><p>“A woman stopped me at the gas station and asked where I was going. She knew my address, and my son’s name. Then she gave me that and said to give it to Officer Lucy Chen when I crossed the blockade. She said she would find me if I didn’t.”</p><p>Lucy froze. Her mind went blank. The buzzing in her ears started again, alongside the phantom burning in her side.</p><p>Tim ordered the woman to get out of the vehicle and told Lucy to put her in the shop. “We’re taking her to the precinct for questioning, call it in Officer Chen.”</p><p>Lucy followed his instructions on autopilot as Tim climbed into the car. He slammed his door shut and threw the envelope, which was now in an evidence bag, onto the dashboard.</p><p>He turned on the lights and they raced through the street, taking corners roughly and speeding violently. She didn’t dare speak except to reassure the woman- Miss Darcy, that no she wasn’t under arrest and that instead a detective would want to question her about the woman who gave her the envelope.</p><p>The envelope which Lucy couldn’t take her eyes off of. Her name, scratched into the paper in clear letters, gleamed in the light, calling to her to open it. She curled her hands into fists to stop them from reaching out. They hit a red light. She felt Tim’s leg begin to bounce beside her as it did only when he got really wound up. They took off. Less than a minute passed when they hit another red. At this rate even with the siren on it was going to take at least fifteen minutes to get back to the station. Lucy couldn’t wait that long.</p><p>She reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a pair of gloves.</p><p> “Don’t,” Tim warned. “It’s evidence.”</p><p>“Tim its addressed to me, whether we open it here, or back at the precinct, whatever it says will be the same.”</p><p>Tim conceded with a nod.</p><p>Lucy picked up the letter. It was light, she wasn’t sure why she was suspecting it to be heavy. Carefully she opened it, although she knew in her gut that nothing would happen when she did. It contained a single innocent looking sheet of paper. It was blank on the side facing her. Slowly, she turned it over to see dark writing. Her breath caught in her throat as she read it.</p><p>DOD- 01/06/2021</p><p>Three days’ time.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The response to the first chapter of this story blew me away,  I was not expecting it at all and I am very thankful to all of you.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Every computer screen in the bullpen was streaming the news. A continuous feed from every direction. Unavoidable and, if you were Lucy Chen, terrifying.</p><p><em>Breaking News. Serial Killer Rosalind Dyer appears to be on the loose after escaping Central California’s Women’s Facility, following a fire. Rosalind is thought to be the only prisoner to escape. Whilst the LAPD have chosen not to comment at this time we are left to wonder if this was luck? Or a plan from a woman who has already killed an unknown number of people</em>.</p><p>“Chen,” Tim spoke in Lucy’s ear. She startled and realized that she had been standing in the middle of the precinct, staring at the monitors and that everyone, who wasn’t also looking at one, was staring at her.</p><p>She felt Tim’s hand against her elbow as he guided her through the precinct and up the stairs. She knew her legs were walking, she could see them moving, but she felt as though she was separated from her body. She didn’t remember getting out of the patrol car, didn’t remember where Miss Darcy was. Did Tim tell that officer to take her to the break room or the interrogation room? Lucy didn’t know. And she didn’t care. The letter in her hands was all that mattered, and the words that meant that the target on her back may as well now be painted there.</p><p>“Come in,” Grey called.</p><p>When did they get to Sergeant Grey’s office?</p><p>Tim pulled her in alongside him. His hand stayed on her elbow, protective and reassuring. It grounded her.</p><p>“Sergeant there’s something the FBI has to see,” Tim spoke. He sounded confident but the hand tightening its hold on her hinted otherwise. “Chen,” he whispered. She knew that only she could hear him. “Give Grey the letter.”</p><p>Lucy handed the envelope and piece of paper over and watched Grey for his reaction as he read it. A flicker of fear crossed his face before he covered it.</p><p>He picked up his phone and called for Agent Johnson to come to his office immediately. “Where did you get this?” He asked. He was looking at Lucy but thankfully Tim spoke for she was not sure she could.</p><p>“A woman whose vehicle we were searching was looking for Officer Chen by name. She said that a woman at a gas station gave it to her. I asked Officer Bingley to sit with her in the break room until Agent Johnson could speak with her.”</p><p>“Good work, Officer Bradford.” Grey replied. He turned to Lucy and his gaze softened in a way she had rarely seen it. It did nothing to ease the lead rope constricting her breathing, “Officer Chen, I’m sure Agent Johnson will want to speak to you but why don’t you take a break for a few minutes, gather yourself. Remember everyone here has your back and your protection will be our top priority.”</p><p>Lucy offered Grey a small smile. She wanted to speak but she found that she couldn’t catch the breath needed to form words. Scared that she was going to have a panic attack in front of her boss and the officer she respected more than anyone else, she nodded and left the room as quickly as she could force herself to move.</p><p>She found that the sea of eyes turning to look at her as she walked down the stairs was enough motivation to quicken her steps. Now that she knew Miss Darcy was in the break room, she was at a loss of where to go to escape. Looking around frantically her gaze found the ladies’ restroom and she ran inside, praying that it would be empty.</p><p>As luck would have it: no stall was occupied. Lucy let out the breath she had been holding since she saw the letter. She collapsed against the sink and felt the dam break.</p><p>Tears poured down her cheeks no matter how much she fought to stop them. With her hands bracing her weight, she gripped the cool tile as tight as she could to stop herself from falling.</p><p>Just the day before her therapist Doctor Robinson had agreed that she had made a lot of progress and that maybe her monthly visits had come to an end. Her relationship with Emmett had been fun and exactly what she needed to get over that last hurdle of learning to trust again but their crazy shifts had been testing to their relationship. After going almost a month of only seeing each other three times off shift, Lucy had decided that maybe it wasn’t the right time for them. Doctor Robinson had said it showed great agency and trust and was a marker for how far she had come.</p><p>Lucy felt as though all that progress was being washed down the drain along with her tears.</p><p>For months after Caleb she had felt like a walking target. That feeling, the paranoia and fear was back, and she didn’t know if she was strong enough to see it through.</p><p>She was looking at her reflection in the mirror, trying to summon every ounce of strength she had, when the door opened and the bang it made caused her to flinch.</p><p>“There you are,” Tim spoke, looking sheepishly around the room. “Tell me it’s just you in here?” He asked.</p><p>Lucy offered him a weak nod.</p><p>He had been silent since the loud curse he had let out back in the patrol car when she had shown him the letter. His anger had lasted for as long as it took for his fist to slam against the steering wheel before he had composed himself. Tim was supposed to be the professional and stoic one. She hadn’t seen him this emotional on the job since Isabel. Even if it had only lasted a second, it was unnerving.</p><p>She felt him move towards her to awkwardly stand at her side where he waited as she composed herself. Eventually, when her breathing had stabilized, he began to speak.</p><p>“You’re going to be alright,” Tim told her. He sounded almost like his usual self, so sure and confident. She wondered where he had found it, and if he could inject some of that strength into her again. “You have an entire station of cops and the FBI protecting you.”</p><p>Lucy nodded and sheepishly tried to dry away the rest of her tears. </p><p>“But you also have more than that.” She dropped her hands to look up at him. “You have me.”</p><p>He tilted his head to the side in the way that he did when he tried to tell a joke and Lucy felt a small laugh escape from her lips. And then he surprised her again.</p><p>He reached out his hand and rested it gently on her shoulder. His gaze softened.</p><p>“Now I’m going to tell you something Officer Chen and you have to promise me not to let it go to your head okay?” Tim asked. The intensity of his gaze forced her to break their eye-contact and duck her head towards the floor. “Truthfully, you don’t need anyone’s help. You never have. You’ve still got that fire in you and that is what’s going to help you get through this. And it’s going to help us catch her.”</p><p>Lucy wasn’t sure if it was her imagination or if his strong demeanor had faltered as she had hidden her face from him. Still, she was glad of their height difference, for it meant that he couldn’t see the emotions play out on her own face at his words.</p><p>“Thank you, Tim,” she whispered, and she found that her words came much easier than before. The pressure in her chest had eased.</p><p>They pulled back from each other and Tim offered her a strong nod of the head. “Now splash some water on your face and meet me in the roll-call room. We’ve got some work to do.”</p><p>Lucy turned to watch him leave and couldn’t help but wonder if he really was a confident as he clearly wanted her to believe.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This chapter was less tense because I wanted to take the time to establish more of Lucy's headspace and her relationship with Tim before we get to the action in the later chapters. Please let me know what you thought!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A chapter to celebrate that season 3 is confirmed! Thank you very much for all of your continued support for this story!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lucy was surprised to find the roll call room empty apart for Agent Johnson, Sergeant Grey and Tim. She entered with as much confidence as she could gather. It was a trick she had learned in the academy. When you were scared to walk into a room, you walked into it like you were going to own whatever problems you would be faced with. You held your head high, kept your steps deliberate and you tricked your brain into thinking that everything was going to be fine.</p><p>“Officer Chen,” Sergeant Grey greeted. “I want you to know that I’ve assigned officers to watch your home tonight. I know you live with Officer West, but I would be happier knowing that we have eyes on the street too.”</p><p>“Thank you,” Lucy flickered her eyes to Tim who was standing almost at attention. He met her gaze and held it. “What happens now?” she asked.</p><p>“We continue canvassing,” Agent Johnson replied. “We continue with everything we have already set in motion. Except now we have an angle. Rosalind’s threat has in fact given us a lead. She isn’t running; she’s hiding locally. We’ve eased the blockades and we are using the extra officers to focus on running down the list of addresses she has ties to. Miss Darcy confirmed that Rosalind gave her the letter. We have her picture circulating on every news station. She didn’t plan this Officer Chen. She’s been trapped for nearly six years and now she’s free, she’s desperate to make her mark again.”</p><p>Lucy faltered at the implied danger Agent Johnson’s statement put her in. The FBI agent must have noticed for she hastened to clarify, “That means she’s reckless. And she’s going to make a mistake.”</p><p>Suddenly, a team of patrol officers started filling in. Lucy startled at the noise. Sergeant Grey moved towards her whilst Agent Johnson approached the podium. “Agent Johnson is going to assign addresses to run down. Tim assures me you are fit to be here, but I don’t want one of my officers out on the street if they aren’t capable. Can I trust you out there, Officer Chen?”</p><p>Lucy paused. When she agreed to work that morning, the danger had been a serial killer that may or may not have escaped and that had made no direct threat toward her. Now she was agreeing to work when the monster had <em>definitely</em> escaped and was <em>most definitely</em> coming for her. Had Grey asked her when they were stood in his office, her answer might have been different but now? She looked over at Tim. His words in the Ladies restroom came back to her.</p><p>“Yes,” she answered.</p><p>Grey accepted her answer quicker than Lucy expected and left her to join Agent Johnson.</p><p>Lucy began to make her way to her usual seat when she felt Tim’s hand on her elbow again. She turned to look at him. He didn’t speak but instead lead her to the back of the room. Confused, she followed him and sat in the seat beside him as he guided her into it. John, Jackson and their partners were still out on the street, which at least made it less awkward but none the less confusing. She looked at her partner, fully expecting an explanation as to what was going on. He remained silent. His gaze remained focused on the front where Agent Johnson began addressing the room.</p><p>She turned to look at FBI Agent and immediately realized why he had done it. Siting at the back with Tim meant that she didn’t have everyone’s eyes on her. She felt at ease with the glass around her, allowing her to see both her surroundings and everyone in the room in front of her.</p><p>“Thanks,” she whispered just loud enough for Tim to hear it. He merely nodded in reply.</p><p>Agent Johnson began handing out the assignments. She sent agents to Rosalind’s family members, officers to properties of those who had been sending her letters. The fact there was so many of the latter shouldn’t have been as distressing as it was. After all, Lucy should really have been expecting it. She knew that Rosalind had no shortage of crazy admirers. She had found them on her late-night internet searches. Groups that romanticized her. Groups that thought her work was fascinating. They shared pictures of Rosalind and her victims. Including hers. It made sense that it was such a network that the FBI suspected could be helping her now.</p><p>“Officers Smitty and Brown will go to the previous address of Caleb Wright. It’s been empty since his death.”</p><p>Lucy’s breath caught as she heard Caleb’s name. She felt Tim tense beside her. She was even more thankful that they were sitting near the back as she noticed a few heads tilt toward them, but respect prevented anyone from fully turning.</p><p>Tim leaned forward slightly as though he was waiting for something terrible to happen. His leg started bouncing. As Agent Johnson continued handing out addresses with a connection to Caleb, Lucy finally caught onto what Tim was afraid of. There weren’t many officers left and they still didn’t have an assignment. Agent Johnson wasn’t seriously going to send her to an address of Caleb’s, was she?</p><p>“Officers Bradford and Chen, I want you to take Rosalind’s Great Aunt’s address.” Lucy sighed with relief and she felt Tim relax too.</p><hr/><p>The drive to Mrs Springer’s house would have taken half an hour on a normal day but, with the roadblocks causing worse traffic than usual, she suspected it would be closer to an hour. Of all the assignments, it was a long shot, and the furthest from the station. She couldn’t help thinking that Agent Johnson gave them this address because it was least likely of finding Rosalind. She felt guilty for thinking it, but she was thankful for it.</p><p>After ten minutes of silence, which Lucy had been at a loss to fill, Tim finally spoke. “So, you got any plans for after shift?”</p><p>Lucy startled at the question. Was he seriously asking her what she was doing later as though she could possibly have thought about that? “What?” It was the only response she could think of.</p><p>“It helps to focus on something that you can control,” Tim advised, throwing a glance her way as they stopped at a red light. “So, shift ends in about six hours, there’s no way Grey will let you do overtime and by the time we get back, and you write up the paperwork, it’ll be time to clock out. So, what are you doing after shift?”</p><p>Lucy looked out the window, trying to think of something. “Jackson and I have American Idol to watch from last week, so I guess I’ll be watching that.”</p><p>“Of course, you are,” Tim said.</p><p>“Excuse me!” Lucy replied, surprised at the outrage in her voice when she had felt numb since they had felt the station. “I’ll have you know that American Idol is responsible for finding many amazing singers who go on to make a mark in the music industry. And it’s more entertaining than a cop drama where they always get a confession.”</p><p>“That’s true, I hate that.”</p><p>“And I guess you’ll be watching the Kings as usual, they’re playing tonight right?” Lucy wasn’t the biggest sports fan but riding with Tim meant that she had picked up on some of his teams. And if she checked their scores to try to anticipate what sort of mood he would be in for the next shift, well that just made her a good rookie. And the fact she kept it up post training, well that made her a good friend.</p><p>“Yeah, hoping to catch some of it live.” She caught the corner of his lips tilt up as he spoke. “We’re playing the Hawks and with Crawford out injured the games ours for the taking. Reckon it’s going to be a good one.”</p><p>“Well I hope it’s good for you. But I don’t really see how a bunch of guys chasing after a puck is really all that interesting.”</p><p>“Right.” Lucy laughed at the annoyance in Tim’s voice. “That’s enough talking, I think. We’ve still got about a half hour’s drive and I can’t listen to this sort of crap the whole time.”</p><p>He reached over and clicked on the radio. Lucy gasped with exaggerated loudness. “Don’t say word.” Tim admonished but there was no weight to it.</p><p>In the time they had ridden together Tim had only allowed her to play the radio a handful of times. It was usually due to a bet she had won or a reward. This was neither. She noticed the quiet notes of a song she liked and reached out to turn up the dial. Tim let her.</p><p>She found herself quietly singing along and then she saw out the corner of her eye that Tim was drumming his fingers along the steering wheel to the beat. She didn’t address it, but as the song continued, he seemed to get more lost in it. She watched his lips twitch as though he was singing the lyrics in his head and trying to stop himself from singing them out loud. Watching him and quietly singing, thinking about the beer and TV she would be enjoying with Jackson after shift, Lucy found herself forgetting all of the terrible and terrifying realities of her life.</p><p>“You’re a good singer,” Tim offered as a song finished. “I don’t think I’ve told you that before.”</p><p>Lucy smiled at the compliment and she felt it grow when she spotted the slight blush on his cheeks. She wondered if he had meant to say that out loud. Tim was more generous in giving her compliments now that she was no longer his rookie but he still didn’t hand them out often. It was especially rare for him to give her one that didn’t involve policing. She thanked him and decided to sing just a little bit louder.</p><p>Tim left the radio on for the entirety of the drive, even letting her flick through the stations until she found a song she liked. When the news came on, he was the first to change it. She realized then that he was doing it deliberately: letting her use the music as a distraction and keeping her from getting too lost in her own head.</p><p>They arrived at Mrs Springer’s sooner than she wanted.</p><p>“Let’s go Boot,” Tim announced getting out of the car and making short work of approaching the door. Lucy rolled her eyes at the name and followed him. As soon as she reached him, he knocked and announced their arrival. The house was large, and Lucy wouldn’t be surprised if there was a pool out back. There was no answer. He tried again and this time they heard a splash. So, there <em>was</em> a pool.</p><p>They moved round the side of the house and caught sight of a young boy playing in the water whilst his mother looked on. She noticed them by the gate and startled. “Eddy watch your brother,” she shouted at a child they couldn’t see and then ran towards them.</p><p>“Officers what can I help you with?” </p><p>“Sorry to bother you, but does a Mrs Springer live here?” Lucy asked.</p><p>The woman looked confused. “No, we’re the Darlings, we bought this house from Mrs Springer a few years ago.”</p><p>After a beat, the woman frowned, looking between them.  Her gaze focused on Lucy. “This doesn’t have anything to do with that awful woman who escaped does it?”</p><p>Her stare was too knowing, too suspicious. For a split-second Lucy expected another envelope but then she recognized that there was pity behind the woman’s eyes, not fear. She supposed she would have to expect paranoia as her new normal for the foreseeable future.</p><p>“Sorry mam, we can’t comment on the nature of the investigation at the minute,” Tim advised. “You have a nice day.”</p><p>At that moment they heard arguing. “I should go, my children don’t exactly get along. Good luck with finding whoever you are looking for, sorry I couldn’t be of more help.” The woman replied and then disappeared to her family.</p><p>Lucy’s shoulders sank. Whilst a part of her had been hoping they weren’t about to come face to face with Rosalind, she had wanted a lead.  “I knew it was a long shot, but I had hoped we might have gotten something,” she said as they made their way back to the car.</p><p>Tim agreed. “At least getting to speak to the person we drove all this way for.”</p><p>Feeling dejected, they made their way back to the station, hoping that someone else would have had more luck than them.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for reading. Another calm chapter before we get to the action later, but I want to build up Tim and Lucy's relationship alongside the plot. I'm a big hockey fan hence the reference. I also decided to let the reader imagine what song they were singing. Please let me know what you thought!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you once more for the support on this fic, it really does mean a lot to me. I hope you enjoy this chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>By the time they got back to the station, their shift was almost over. They had decided to work from the break room after Tim suggested they go somewhere with some solid walls and an exit she could watch. Lucy had made a note to ask him how he knew her triggers so well but hadn’t got around to it yet.</p><p>“Officer Chen,” Grey announced as he entered the small space. Lucy had already been watching the door when she heard footsteps approaching so she was prepared for the entry. She rose to her feet when she saw it was him though.</p><p>“Yes sir,” she addressed, feeling Tim stand alongside her.</p><p>“I have placed Officers Davis and Sharp on surveillance at your house for tonight and I have called Officers West and Lopez back in. So, when you’re done your paperwork, I think it’s time you got some rest and let yourself process everything that has happened.”</p><p>Lucy nodded, “Thank you, sir.”</p><p>Grey looked between her and Tim. Lucy thought that he looked as though he was going to say something when he decided otherwise and left, leaving them standing awkwardly.</p><p>“I was actually just finishing up,” Lucy told Tim, bending down to pick up the paperwork.</p><p>“I’ll file it for you,” Tim offered.</p><p>“Wow, Tim Bradford offering to file the paperwork, has hell frozen over?” She joked.</p><p>Tim didn’t look at her, or reply, and she felt her chest tighten. He didn’t often do nice things without there being a catch. Not whilst they were at work. And this was the second time he had done so today.</p><p>“Just get home safe and get some rest,” he said, still not lifting his gaze from the table as he collected the paper. His hand brushed hers and she felt the familiar hyper-awareness that took over when their bare skin met. It didn’t happen often. Any contact they had was usually a guiding hand on her back, or a tap on the shoulder as a signal to move, so bare skin always seemed more intimate. Maybe she had once or twice allowed her hand to hold a coffee cup she was handing him just a breath too long so that it happened, but that was her business.</p><p>“Goodnight Tim,” she whispered, heading for the door.</p><p>His silence since they had returned from their failed assignment was unnerving. He seemed even more dejected than she was. Offering to do her paperwork so she could go home all but confirmed her fears: he was scared too.</p><p>“Goodnight,” he breathed back, “Stay safe.”</p><p>She gave him a curt nod before she closed the door.</p><hr/><p>Jackson met her outside the locker room. “Ready for Idol Night Luce?” he asked, over-enthusiastic in a way that was touching.</p><p>“Yeah” she replied, allowing herself to fall into his open arm so that he could wrap it around her and lead them to the entrance.</p><p>Luckily, since Jackson had stayed at Sterling’s the night before, they didn’t need to worry about cars and could just take Lucy’s instead, for she knew that he wouldn’t have let her drive home alone.</p><p>“So, what are we thinking for food? Pizza?” he asked.</p><p>Lucy shook her head. The ache of dread and fear had been settled in her chest for most of the day so that she was almost numb to it. However, the sick feeling in her stomach was back. She felt alone and exposed despite having a fellow officer beside her. It wasn’t that different from riding with Tim, and yet somehow, she felt less safe. She closed off the psychologist in her that wanted to look deeper into that particular thought.</p><p>“I was thinking something lighter, Thai?” She suggested.</p><p>Jackson grinned, “Ohh good idea actually, I’ve been craving Pad Thai for weeks now.”</p><p>With dinner and entertainment decided their conversation ideas were wasted, unless they wished to talk about their day, something Lucy was really not ready to do. She liked to talk out her problems, but she was scared that, if she started talking now, she wouldn’t stop. And it was more than likely that tears would be involved. She wanted to wait until they were in the comfort of their home.</p><p>Consequently, the tapping of heavy rainfall battering the car was all that could be heard over the traffic.</p><p>Seeming to recognize her desire to avoid the topic, Jackson flicked on the radio.  Cheers by Rhianna began to play and Jackson squealed, “Hey it’s our song!” He nudged her gently and Lucy found her lips twitching into a smile.</p><p>Together they sang along, getting louder and more animated until the car was bouncing. It felt freeing in a different way than singing with Tim had. That was intimate but this, being with her best friend, was fun and joyful. Both however had the same effect and she found herself getting lost in the song, the sick feeling passing even if the heavy weight in her chest remained present.</p><hr/><p>They were just sitting down to order food when the doorbell rang. Lucy felt her body stiffen in response.</p><p>“You expecting anyone?” she asked Jackson, trying to keep the fear from her voice. He shook his head and gestured for her to stay where she was as he rose to his feet.</p><p>Shaking her head back at him, Lucy reached for her gun which she had tucked into her jeans. She watched Jackson do the same. In-sync they made their way to the door, guns raised.</p><p>Jackson leaned up to peer through the peep hole and froze. He immediately swung open the door.</p><p>“Jeeze!” Nolan screamed jumping back and automatically pulling out his own weapon so that the three friends were all armed and facing one another.</p><p>“Sorry!” Lucy joined in with Jackson’s laughter and soon the three of them were bent over double as they made their way into the apartment together.</p><p>John was dripping wet from the rain outside. He removed his jacket and he took the towel Jackson offered him to try to dry himself off a bit.</p><p>“Mrs Smith was coming in at the same time as me, so I got by the buzzer, but I should’ve called,” John apologized, collapsing onto the sofa. “I brought beer though,” he lifted his hand to show a bag with a crate of beer.</p><p>“Yeah I probably should have said it was only you, but that was so worth it,” Jackson laughed.</p><p>“What are you doing here?” Lucy asked as she took the bag from him to put the beer in the fridge. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, even if we did have a weird way of showing it.”</p><p>They fell into easy laughter again as Lucy brought them through a bottle each.</p><p>“We’re in this together remember?” John replied, “Just because we aren’t rookies anymore, doesn’t mean we don’t have each other’s back.”</p><p>Lucy gave him a genuine smile of thanks and then clinked his beer with her own.</p><p>“So, American Idol anyone?” Lucy announced.</p><p>“Better order food first,” Jackson reminded her.</p><hr/><p> </p><p>When the buzzer rang from outside Lucy should have been prepared for it this time, yet it still sent an electric current through her and she sprung to her feet.</p><p>“It’ll be the food,” John reminded her, rising and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. He had done so before, both as a friend and when they were together. And yet none of his touches had ever felt like the brush of skin when her hand met Tim’s. Lucy shook the thought from her head.</p><p>“I’ll get it,” John offered, “You two like this show way more than I do, and probably more than the majority of America.”</p><p>Lucy smiled at him, seeing that he was providing her with an excuse not answer the door.</p><p> </p><hr/><p>John checked with the intercom. After the voice confirmed that it was their favorite Thai place, and he recognized the voice as their usual delivery driver, he made his way downstairs. Despite his efforts to make sure it was safe; he kept his hand on his piece just in case.</p><p>Seeing David at the door relaxed him further. “Hey,” he greeted. They exchanged money, he confirmed that the extra delivery was for the patrol car, and they said their goodbyes. John was about to return inside when he noticed another car across the street’s lights flick on as the driver got out.  He frowned as he recognized the man walking towards him.</p><p>“Officer Bradford,” John greeted, “What are you doing here, has there been a development in the case?” He looked worriedly up to the apartment where Lucy was.</p><p>“Whose idea was the delivery Officer Nolan?” Tim asked, crossing his hands across his chest, seemingly unbothered that he was getting wet from the rain that was falling even harder than when John had arrived.</p><p>“What?” John stuttered.</p><p>“The delivery, who’s idea was it, because it might have been the stupidest mistake you’ve made since qualifying. There’s a serial killer on the loose, she’s personally outlined Officer Chen as a target and you are opening the door to a stranger. What if she had sent an imposter? Or was a holding a gun to the man’s head? What if she was waiting until that door opened to kill you both to gain access to Officer Chen.”</p><p>Nolan frowned. “We ordered from our usual restaurant. I came down myself so that Lucy wouldn’t have to. I checked through the intercom that it was our usual driver. I’m armed and there’s a patrol car across the street, who I called to inform of the delivery, who texted me that it was all clear to come down and who are themselves enjoying some Pad Thai.”</p><p>Tim visibly blanched at the answer but covered his surprise quickly.</p><p>“Are you going to invite me in Officer Nolan or are you going to make to stand out here in the rain whilst we chit chat?” Tim barked.</p><p>John didn’t speak and instead led the way back inside.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you very much for reading, please let me know what you thought!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm sorry for the delay, I was unsure whether or not to continue posting given the current police brutality that is being fought against. However, after discussions with some friends and some self-reflection, I was encouraged to continue to post for the people who are looking for an escape from the real world. I hope you enjoy this chapter, feedback is very much appreciated!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Lucy,” John called as he opened the door.</p><p>Lucy appeared before Tim looking disheveled in an oversized t-shirt and leggings. His gaze roamed from the soft curls framing her face, to the tight pants emphasizing her legs.  </p><p>“Tim!” Her surprise at seeing him was evident.</p><p>He had been going crazy with worry back at his house when she hadn’t answered his text. It had seemed wise to check in. Now, standing in her home, when she was obviously fine and enjoying the company of her friends, who he knew would protect her, he felt like an overprotective fool who had been caught out.</p><p>“You didn’t reply to my text.” He became conscious of the two men staring at him. Despite being so close to the woman who had proudly declared herself his friend, they were nothing more than colleagues to him.</p><p>John must have sensed the tension for he announced, “We’ll sort out the food,” beckoning Jackson to follow him. Jackson hesitated, looking between him and Lucy with a look Tim could only identify as curiosity, before he followed the older man to the kitchen.</p><p>Lucy shook her head, “I’m sorry I didn’t see your text, but you really didn’t have to come all this way Tim.”</p><p>Tim waited until both men were audibly going through the take-out before he replied, in as quiet a voice as he could manage. It would have helped if Lucy had come closer to him, but she seemed frozen to the spot in surprise. He didn’t know why that hurt as much as it did. “Officers Sharp and Davis are half-assed at best and Jackson is as newly qualified as you, I wanted you to have someone else watching your back.”</p><p>Lucy smiled, “Thanks, but we had it handled.”</p><p>Tim felt his body tense in response to her brushing him off. “She’s after you Chen. You’re my partner and a serial killer is free with a personal vendetta against you, don’t you get that?”</p><p>Her face reddened in anger as he had seen it do countless times when she got pissed off at him and she stormed closer to him.</p><p>“You can’t seriously be asking me that Tim!” She hissed. “I’ve barely been able to breathe all day, terrified of what Rosalind could do to me. You told me once that after a day like this the only way to find rest would be to take my mind off it. I have my friends here and a car outside as protection. I have my gun digging into my hip, but I’m too scared to take it off in case the next knock at the door isn’t so friendly. I’m very much aware that there’s now 52 hours until my new date of death. So, don’t you dare accuse me of not taking this seriously!”</p><p>A groan escaped Tim’s chest. That wasn’t what he meant at all. He was angry and had been terrified for over an hour that something had happened to her since she wasn’t replying. He had blamed himself for not insisting on going home with her when he had considered it in the break room earlier that day. And when she had brushed off his offer of help it had hurt, and he had lashed out a step too far. He could get away with it on the job, when he was her superior, but he wasn’t even really that anymore and right now? They were supposed to be friends not officers.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” he apologized.</p><p>Lucy startled, and he realized he had never apologized to her before, he wasn’t sure what that said about him, but the realization only made him feel worse. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. I’m just worried about you, okay? When you didn’t reply I was scared something had happened. I volunteered to be your partner this morning and that hasn’t changed just because we’re out of uniform. And you said it yourself, we’re friends. I just want to help.”</p><p>He recognized the faintest hint of a smile on her face and felt himself relax. “We always order too much Thai, there should be some left for you. Just hang up your jacket, you’re leaving a puddle on the floor.” Lucy offered. He recognized her truce and willingly accepted it, doing as she asked before following her into the kitchen.</p><hr/><p> </p><p>They began eating their food in a stilted silence. Tim had been awkward at first and Lucy felt terrible for not understanding what he was trying to tell her earlier. She had thought he was saying she wasn’t strong enough to handle being alone and hadn’t seen just how badly he wanted to help her for himself too.</p><p>It wasn’t just their argument making things awkward. They had rarely been together as a group before. Sure, they had enjoyed drinks together, but they usually had at least Lopez. She provided another bridge between them, a source of connection between Tim and Jackson, and more recently with her as well. However, Tim being Tim, he had always been more respectful of his position and Lucy realized that he had never really spoken much to John or Jackson out of work. </p><p>Having Tim in her home sharing a meal was also a first. Sure, she had imagined it plenty of times, usually in the little hours of the morning when she had drunk too much wine, but she had never pictured it as a group affair. And even if she had, she knew that it wouldn’t have made a difference.</p><p>She tried to start conversation but was lacking something to bring them all together. The only thing they really had in common was work and her.</p><p>The wind blew heavier and rattled the window, drawing Lucy’s attention towards the storm raging outside and the patrol car sitting there.</p><p>Lucy forced herself to remember that it wasn’t her job to find Rosalind, it wasn’t any of their responsibilities to come up with theory or to dig deeper on where she could be. John had gotten in her head before, and they had each cracked cases open in the past, but with Agent Johnson running the investigation it wasn’t like she was going to listen to uniforms anyway. The detectives and the agents came up with the plan; they were just the foot soldiers. But it was all she could think about and she could tell from how well she knew the three men sitting with her that it was all they could think about as well.</p><p>There was one thing in particular that she couldn’t let go of. The agents seemed to be assuming that Rosalind was working alone, that she had escaped by chance rather than by plan. But Lucy knew Rosalind was smarter than most people gave her credit for. Sending the letter, especially with three days’ notice, signaled premeditation. It conveyed that she had a plan that spanned the next two days and would lead to her death. Did it not make sense to question if she had come up with it in prison?</p><p>“What if she planned the fire?” Lucy asked out of the blue. She didn’t need to clarify who she was talking about for all the men stopped eating immediately and looked at her.</p><p>Tim was sitting next to her on the floor and one of his long legs was curled so that it was in constant contact with hers. She wasn’t sure how it had happened, only that she had suddenly become present of the heat of his thigh and hadn’t made an effort to remove it. Interestingly, neither had he.</p><p>“Surely the detectives would have considered that?” Jackson offered. She knew he was trying to comfort her, but his dismissal caused her to clench her teeth to prevent her from snapping at him like she had Tim.</p><p>“But they don’t know Rosalind like we do. With Armstrong gone we know her better than anyone. I’ve read every file of Caleb’s and I experienced it first-hand. John you probably know her the best. What do you think, could she have planned this?”</p><p>John considered it for a minute, and then nodded slowly, “It’s possible, but thinking like that isn’t going to help. The detectives are handling it and –</p><p>“Since when did you two start selling yourself so short?” Tim interrupted. Lucy turned to look at him and saw he was deep in thought, seriously considering her idea. “The note gives weight to your theory and we know Rosalind is manipulative. Who’s to say she didn’t get inside someone’s head in the prison and persuade them to help her. I think it’s something we should consider.”</p><p>“But not tonight.” He finished. “Detectives and night shift are still searching; they could find her by morning. Tomorrow we will go to Grey and ask about it further but for just now, we eat and rest.”</p><p>Jackson awkwardly cleared his throat. “Will I play it?” he suggested, nodding towards the TV. He directed the question towards Lucy, and she nodded.</p><p>Tim shuffled beside her and she immediately missed his warmth.</p><p>“What’s this?” he asked.</p><p>Jackson spluttered and even John sent him a look of wonder. Lucy just rolled her eyes. “It’s American Idol, that show I was telling you about. We arrested a contestant a while back?” She hadn’t told a soul about how she had ended up auditioning, nor about the flash of gold she had seen Katie Perry try to offer her. Mostly because she knew no one would believe her if she did. She had called the station from one of the LAPD lines to ask that the footage never be shown and so it would remain between her and the judges. She kind of liked it like that.</p><p>Tim merely huffed. “Not exactly my idea of entertainment.”</p><p>“Me neither,” John offered.</p><p>Lucy fully expected Tim to send him a snarky response but instead he nodded at John in comradeship and turned to Jackson and Lucy. “So that’s two against two hardly seems fair.”</p><p>Lucy laughed, “I don’t think so. Our apartment, our rules, and unless anyone else has a serial killer after them then I’m picking the show and American Idol stays on.”</p><p>Being flippant was often her coping mechanism and thankfully the three men were used to it. Jackson grinned and pressed play whilst the other two resigned to watch it.</p><hr/><p>After an hour of listening to Tim mumble under his breath about he had heard better singers on the streets of LA and how set-up the whole thing was, the show ended. The storm outside had escalated to a level that was rare for this time of year.</p><p>Awkwardness settled over them again. Jackson barely stifled a yawn. “What are we thinking for sleeping? Shifts again? I’ll take first shift and tidy this place up, John can do second, Lucy you do third and-”</p><p>He stopped, his gaze on Tim.</p><p>They all froze, watching to see Tim’s reaction. He crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows, beckoning Jackson to finish. “Officer Bradford can do whatever he pleases because I as a junior officer wouldn’t dare to suggest-”</p><p>Tim cracked a smile and Lucy grinned at seeing it. She wondered if that would ever stop, or if every time he so much as hinted at smiling: she would feel her own lips respond. “I don’t know how safe it would be to drive home in this weather so if it’s not too much bother I’d like to stay until it passes.” He admitted. At that moment, as though to prove his point, a particularly loud blast of wind shook the window.</p><p>Lucy however knew that honestly the weather wasn’t bad enough to warrant not driving in. Tim was usually so hard-headed about such things anyway. It felt out of character for him, as so many other things had recently. Lucy felt her stomach flip in response. Was it possible he was merely coming up with an excuse to stay?</p><p>“You could always stay the night,” Lucy suggested, testing her own theory. “Sofa’s big enough.”</p><p>She held her breath as she waited for him to respond.</p><p>Tim looked at her for a second in silence before he opened his mouth to answer and then closed it again. He turned his attention to John. “What about you John?” Tim asked.</p><p>The older man shook his head. “I’ll be fine I’m only a few blocks away and I brought the truck. I’ll head out now if that’s alright with everyone?”</p><p>He directed the question to Lucy, and she appreciated the gesture. They had always said that they were lucky to have made friends with each other in the Academy, but she constantly found more reasons to be thankful that they had been posted at the same station. She smiled at him and thanked him for coming. Jackson offered to walk him out, leaving her alone with Tim. She rolled her eyes when she spotted the men conspiring together.</p><p>“I would feel better if you stayed,” Lucy admitted. She didn’t want to pressure him, but she also didn’t want him to leave.</p><p>He took a few seconds to search her face, for what she wasn’t sure, and then he spoke. “Alright,” he conceded. “I don’t mind taking the first two shifts and tidying up as a thank you for the food?”</p><p>“Yeah, that seems fair to me.”</p><hr/><p>With arrangements decided, Jackson headed to bed upon his return, leaving Lucy and Tim alone again. “I don’t mind helping you tidy, you are here for me after all,” Lucy offered, picking up some cartons and putting them in the bin.</p><p>Tim shook his head. “No, you get some sleep, I’ll wake Jackson in a couple of hours, and he can organize what goes where.”</p><p>Lucy smiled and reached out to place a thankful hand on his shoulder. She felt the solid muscle beneath her palm and tried to focus on that rather than the fear of having to walk away from him where it was safe and to her room where she was alone. “Thank you,” she said as sincerely as she could.</p><p>He held her gaze for a few seconds and she could see his eyes glaze over in thought. He shook his head slightly, she would have missed it had she not been so close and been able to feel it from where she realized she was still holding him. She pulled her hand reluctantly away.</p><p>“For what? Doing my job?”</p><p>In other circumstance the word would have been an insult, a reminder that they were colleagues and he was here of obligation. But the way he said it, with a tilt in his lips and a knowing look in his eye implied a lot more than that. He was reminding her of how she had helped him in the past. Of how they had always helped each other.</p><p>Scared that he could see how much his words meant to her Lucy whispered goodnight and fled to her bedroom.</p><p>“Night,” he replied. She felt his gaze on her as she walked away, a further reminder that he had her back and would be protecting her whilst she slept. It was that knowledge that she clung to, and the sound of him shuffling around in her kitchen, that helped her find sleep.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Racism is a worldwide problem that needs to be fought and we all must play our part.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I can not thank everyone enough for the support on the last chapter and of my writing at this time.  I hope you enjoy this chapter.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tim, now that he was alone, took a quick look around Lucy and Jackson’s living room and couldn’t help but smile. There were so many aspects to it that were just <em>her</em>. The colorful art on the walls, and piles of books which under deeper inspection were revealed to be psychology or policing related. A vase by the window with a bouquet of sunflowers that she had once mentioned were her favorite. He’d remembered solely because they would have been his guess if she had asked.</p><p>He smiled quietly to himself and moved to pick up the empty cartons of food that were scattered across the table. He made short work of putting the rubbish in the trash and then got to work washing up. He didn’t want to prow around the cupboards, and maybe the superior officer in him didn’t want Jackson to get off that easily, so he left the plates, the cups and cutlery to dry.</p><p>Tim was just finishing up when he stifled a yawn. Shaking it off, he made his way to the window to watch the storm. The rain was still heavy and the wind still punishing. It was rare for this time of year.</p><p>Out there in the darkness Rosalind Dyer was free.</p><p>He knew there was nothing they could do tonight. The case was still being worked and it was important that they stay healthy and alert. It was why he had reminded Lucy of it earlier. No matter how much he wanted to be out on the streets looking for the psychopath that dared to put a target on Lucy’s back again, he knew it wouldn’t get them anywhere if they were burned out.</p><p>After an hour of staring into the darkness, he forced himself to lie back on the couch but turned so that he was facing Lucy’s door. From the angle he also had a clear view of the window and the front door. Sighing, he took his gun out from where it was strapped at his hip and his back up piece from his ankle and sat them down on the table in front of him.</p><p>He was used to steak-outs but he usually had a rookie to quiz or annoy. He wasn’t used to this level of silence despite how much he tried to tell Lucy he liked it. The silence usually only haunted him at home.</p><p>Just thinking about her, a woman who he admired for her strength and brain, lying vulnerable behind the door, was enough to make his heart clench. He tried to ignore it, but he was once more faced with the idea that she meant more to him than any other rookie ever had. She had pushed herself through the walls he put up, chipped them down inch by inch so that he found himself lying on her couch, terrified on her behalf, and sure that if Rosalind dared to show her face anywhere near her then he wouldn’t hesitate to put a bullet in her skull.</p><p>Screams filled the apartment.</p><p>Tim grabbed his gun and jumped to his feet in one swift motion and raced for Lucy’s door.</p><p>He was aware of Jackson’s heavy footsteps behind him, but he paid them no mention as he burst inside.</p><p>“Chen!” He called out. He flicked on the light and assessed the room. She was on the bed, wrapped in the sheets and thrashing. He turned to check for danger and when he found none he froze, too hyped up on adrenaline to fully understand what was going on.</p><p>Jackson appeared behind him and pushed past, making his way towards the bed. Tim grabbed him by the arm.</p><p>“What are you doing, she’s having a nightmare!” Jackson pulled his arm from Tim’s grip.</p><p>“Does this happen often?” Tim asked. He wasn’t even sure why he was asking really but Jackson seemed so unfazed and he was still struggling to process that Lucy wasn’t in danger. Well at least not at that very second.</p><p>“Yes,” Jackson whispered, trying to make his way towards Lucy again. She’d stopped moving so violently so that Tim wasn’t sure if she was still dreaming.</p><p>“Wait,” Tim stopped him again. “Let me?”</p><p>Jackson froze and turned to face him. Tim watched as the younger man looked him straight in the eye for probably the first time, more than willing to stand his ground for his friend. After a few seconds he seemed to come to a decision.</p><p>“Okay,” he relented, stepping back. “It’s my shift. I’ll be right outside if you need me.” He gave one last look towards Lucy’s bed before he left, gently closing the door over behind him but leaving it open a gap. Tim didn’t blame him. Jackson hadn’t seen their relationship beyond that of TO and rookie and Tim knew he hadn’t always given a …favorable impression. Even if he and Lucy were friends now, he didn’t blame Jackson for being cautious or skeptical that he might not be the best person to handle this situation.</p><p>But he needed to do this. Clearly Lucy still had demons and he knew what that was like.</p><p>“Chen?” He whispered as he made his way to the bed. She turned towards the noise, ready to fight even in sleep and he was proud of her for it. “Chen, it’s Tim I need you to wake up.” He spoke louder this time and he noticed the whimpering stop. She didn’t wake.</p><p>Feeling guilty, after all his brief discussion with Jackson had meant she was trapped in the dream longer, he decided not to let her suffer anymore and shook her shoulder. “Chen.”</p><p>She darted awake and her fist swung for his face. He ducked just in time and gently caught it on the backhand. “Chen it’s me, it’s Tim.”</p><p>He watched as her wild eyes calmed and her breathing started to flatten. “I’m going to sit on the bed okay?”</p><p>She nodded in reply and even shuffled back to give him space. He took that as a good sign. Slowly, he lowered himself to the bed so that he was lying with his back against the headboard, putting them side by side rather than towering over her.</p><p>“Jackson said this happened a lot?” He asked, watching as she shut her eyes before nodding again.</p><p>“I had them too you know, when I came back from Afghanistan.” Lucy pulled away from the duvet and turned to reach a tissue and dried her eyes. He continued talking as she did it. It almost felt as though they were back in the shop, sitting side by side as she pulled another secret from him that he was planning to never tell. “They usually involved Denny or different missions that were particularly tough. I know how hard they can be.”</p><p>Lucy offered him a caring smile and he felt himself relax slightly at the sign that he was doing okay.</p><p>“How did you make them stop?” She asked.</p><p>“I didn’t, not really but I found a way to deal with them.”</p><p>Lucy ducked her head. He knew it wasn’t the answer that she was hoping for, and that she was hiding her reaction as she often did, but he wasn’t willing to lie to her. It didn’t make seeing her look so small and frail any easier. If they were at work he would have forced her to be strong again and to let her courage fire up but here in her bedroom, in the middle of the night when she’d had a day like today and tomorrow wasn’t going to be any easier; when he was scared by that note and doing everything he could not to show it: he didn’t want to.</p><p>“Come here,” he whispered and then he opened his arms in invitation. Lucy looked at him in shock for a second before she shuffled closer to lean against him.</p><p>He felt her tears fall against his shirt as he held her, one of his large hands cupped her head, as he had done when he pulled her out of the barrel. He wasn’t cradling her as he had then, but the similarity was enough to make him grip her tighter. She must have realized too for she did the same.</p><p>Outside, the rain had finally stopped.</p><p>After a few minutes he heard her take a steadying breath and she pulled back to look at him, “I thought I was getting my life back together Tim. I thought that-”</p><p>“Don’t,” Tim interrupted her, “don’t do that. She’s out there, sure but we are going to catch her.”</p><p>Lucy curled back into his chest and it was only knowing that she wouldn’t see his face that gave him the confidence to tell her, “I won’t stop until I do. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise.”</p><p>He needed to believe it as much as he wanted her to.</p><p> </p><hr/><p>Jackson knew he was being ridiculous, but he couldn’t take his eyes away from the door leading to Lucy’s bedroom. He had almost dropped a cup twice from not watching what he was doing as he dried them. He couldn’t help it. He had seen the letter. Everyone had the second Agent Johnson taped a photo of it to the whiteboard during the final briefing of the day. He’d just been thankful that Lucy wasn’t there to see it be displayed so publicly.</p><p>Ever since, he hadn’t been able to quieten the fear inside him for his friend. Jackson knew she could handle herself, but Rosalind had already shown them time and time again what she was capable of. He had seen the body of her victim’s mutilated corpse, had watched her laugh at his fright when he uncovered the second unexpected grave. Truthfully, the psychopath had always unnerved him but knowing she was out there and coming after Lucy was downright terrifying.</p><p>His stress levels weren’t helped any by the fact that it was Tim Bradford on the other side of that door. Sure, he had no doubts that the man could protect her. If he was honest, he was more than happy for the extra protection. But Lucy was scared and upset, and he wasn’t sure that Tim was the person to help her through that.</p><p>After the kidnapping Jackson had spent more than one night in Lucy’s bed with her, holding her close as she cried. It was usually the result of a particularly hard therapy session or a setback like getting scared by the delivery man turning too quickly to ask for a signature. Or the days when her concealer ran out. The nightmares were the worst. On those nights he had truly considered whether or not Lucy would ever make it as a cop again. He’d felt guilty for doubting her, but such was the severity of her the situation.</p><p>Then Lucy had pulled through. He had watched her grow stronger and whilst he knew her trauma was still there, he had watched her carry it with a less pain every day. It had been inspiring.</p><p>It made what Rosalind was putting her through now even worse.</p><p>He put down the glass he was going to put away before he threw it. He had to focus on how he could help his friend now, rather than worrying about the future. </p><p>He thought that he knew what Tim was like. He was tough as nails and Jackson had spent the first months of training wondering how Lucy could put up with the way he treated her. He had to admit however, that she was one hell of a cop and she had never even considered the idea of switching training officers. If anything, she had been fiercely defensive of Tim from the get go. It was in her nature to be welcoming and loving towards others, but he couldn’t help but wonder if there was maybe a side to Tim that was kept hidden. That maybe he let her see.</p><p>He had spoken to Lopez about it before. One night on a late shift he’d confessed that he was glad he had her and not Tim as his training officer after watching him yell at Lucy and make her do burpees at the side of the shop before getting in. Lopez had glowered at him and said that there was more to Tim than met the eye and that he was one hell of a good TO.</p><p>Jackson had almost seen her point months later when they watched what Tim and Lucy had develop from a partnership to a friendship. He and Lopez had even joked that they would end up together. It was never something taken very seriously, just a thought that was slowly gaining more traction. Such as how Jackson had been unable to spend the night at Lucy’s bedside after the doctor insisted that one cop was enough rule breaking for the day. Or when he’d watched how proud Tim was at their graduation. Lucy had even confessed after one too many tequilas that she certainly got the best view when in the shop. Jackson had agreed with her there.</p><p>Still, friendship and possible romance or not, Jackson wanted to help Lucy, he had experience doing so and he was scared Tim would push her too far.</p><p>Checking the time, he realized that almost two hours had passed, and he decided that a check-in was more than necessary.</p><p>Jackson placed the final plate in the cupboard, made his way to Lucy's room and slowly opened the door.</p><p>His mouth fell open in shock as he saw Lucy curled up against Tim’s chest who was sitting up against the headboard, his head bent to rest on top of hers. Both of them were fast asleep.</p><p>Jackson was only able to marvel at the view for a second when suddenly Tim’s eyes flew open and his hand reached for his gun. Thankfully, he froze after Jackson announced it was just him.</p><p>Jackson just about suppressed his laughter as Tim’s cheeks began to pink.</p><p>“Didn’t mean to wake you,” He offered as explanation. “Just wanted to check she was alright.”</p><p>Tim looked down and Jackson saw as his gaze soften slightly when he looked at Lucy.</p><p>“Actually West, I wanted to talk to you.” Tim said.</p><p>Jackson frowned but nodded in acceptance and made his way out into the living-room. He watched out the corner of his eye, as Tim gently maneuvered Lucy back onto the bed, shushing her as she started to wake up. Then he slowly pulled the door shut behind him and joined Jackson on the couch.</p><p>Jackson waited to see if Tim was going to offer any explanation for what he had just walked in on, but none came. Instead Tim awkwardly cleared his throat and asked, “she has nightmares often then, after Caleb?”</p><p>Jackson nodded sheepishly. “I know it might have been important for the psych eval and maybe I should have reported it but-”</p><p>Tim put out his hand to stop him. “It’s fine,” he said, surprising Jackson for the countless time. “I just want to help. I’m not always trying to create trouble.”</p><p>Jackson didn’t so much as twitch at the joke. “This is the first one she’s had in a while.”</p><p>“It’s understandable with everything going on.” Jackson watched his gaze travel to the window.</p><p>“I hope you don’t mind me asking this, but do you think she’s really coming after Lucy? Is there any world in which that letter was a decoy to throw us off?”</p><p>Tim shook his head and turned back to face him. “I wish that was the case but no, from what we’ve seen of Rosalind, I think she has a plan and I think Lucy is right to consider whether or not she set that fire in the first place and whether or not she had help to do it. And I know you and Nolan both think so too.”</p><p>Jackson felt his own wave of embarrassment but before he could explain Tim continued.</p><p>“It was good of you to try to help her by talking it down but she’s stronger than you give her credit for. There’s a patrol car outside and two armed officers in here and she can handle herself just as good as any of the four of us. Rosalind isn’t getting anywhere near her, but it will do her no good to pretend as though the threat isn’t there.”</p><p>Jackson blinked at him in surprise, watching Tim turn his attention to the door he himself had been staring at not long ago. How much had changed since then.</p><p>He had never heard Tim speak so openly about Lucy in such a favorable light. He was now seeing a glimpse of what Lopez had told him, of what Lucy had clearly seen all along. He wondered if somewhere down the line maybe he and Tim could be friends.</p><p>“You should stay here until…” he trailed off unable to say the words, the date playing over in his mind. “Lucy clearly appreciates it and it’s good to have another set of eyes.” When Tim turned back to face him Jackson faltered as the man looking at him was stoic and cold, a resemblance of the TO who had scared him. “Sir.”</p><p>A smile cracked in the facade and Tim replied, “Not that you had much choice but yes, we have two nights until Rosalind makes her move. I plan on having Officer Chen’s back for every second until then.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope you enjoyed the final chapter of calm before the real storm begins...please let me know what you thought!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lucy turned over in bed and reached out, expecting to feel the warmth of a person beside her. She startled when she felt just a sheet. She opened her eyes and frowned. And then her brain fully caught up. It would be excusable had she expected Emmet, after all there was a time they shared a bed often (before he got his promotion and his shifts changed), but it was not Emmet she had been reaching for.</p><p>She groaned and checked the time on her phone from where she had left it on charge by her bed and subsequently missed all of Tim’s messages.</p><p>Her eyes were drawn to the date at the top of the screen:01/04/2021. She tried not to focus on the voice that told her she had only two days left. Just two days before whatever Rosalind had planned would be put into action. They had time to stop her before then, she tried to reassure herself. But what if the serial killer planned to kidnap her earlier so that she could take her time killing her?</p><p>Feeling the sense of dread she was becoming accustomed to, settle back into chest, Lucy tapped on her missed messages from Tim, hoping for a brief distraction before she faced the day.</p><p>
  <em>Just checking you got home okay- 6.30 </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Boot, let me know -6.45</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Chen, are you alright? -7.00</em>
</p><p>
  <em>If you don’t text me back in 5 mins I’m coming over there. -7.05</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I’m on my way. -7.07</em>
</p><p>He sounded so worried, so scared and she immediately felt guilty for putting him though that. Whilst at the same time it also warmed her heart at the thought of how much he clearly cared about her.</p><p>Memories of last night came back to her. Whilst the adrenaline wearing off had allowed her to find sleep easily, her dreams hadn’t been so kind. Usually her nightmares involved being back in the barrel. Sometimes it wasn’t even the space itself but simply a darkness that entrapped her and got closer and closer until she was suffocated by it.</p><p>Last night had been different. Rosalind had stood over her, an array of instruments on a side table, whilst she was strapped to a medical chair waiting to see what the psychopath would choose to do to her first.</p><p>The serial killer had just been about to begin with a rusty saw when Lucy had woken to the sound of her bedroom door opening. The shaking hadn’t stopped,as the fear from her dream still gripped her, but she had heard Tim and Jackson talking. Her friends. It had been enough to remind her she was safe. Even if in her disorientation she had almost punched Tim in the face.</p><p>Tim being the one to stay had surprised her. She blushed as she remembered how he had spoken to her and held her until she must have fallen back asleep. She was thankful that Jackson hadn’t seen them for she was sure she wouldn’t hear the end of it.</p><p>Still, it was nice to focus on the fear of Jackson possibly seeing, or how Tim would react when he saw her again, such trivial things in comparison to everything she was now faced with. Even if the break only lasted a few seconds and was interrupted by the smell of brewing coffee reminding her that she needed to get up.</p><p>Sighing, Lucy reached for her spare gun which she had left under her pillow. She grabbed a sweater to slip on over her vest top and tucked the weapon into the top of her loose pants. Even in her own home, with her friends just outside, if the distant chatter was anything to go by, she couldn’t imagine moving around without it. Another part of her new normal she supposed.</p><p>She wasn’t sure what she expected to see when she opened the door but Tim flipping eggs certainly wasn’t it. She paused, taking the time to drink in the sight before he noticed her.</p><p>“Domestic isn’t it?” Jackson quipped, making her jump as he appeared beside her. “Romantic even,” he whispered.</p><p>Lucy slapped him on the arm and pushed him out her way to join Tim in the kitchen.</p><p>Tim smiled at her in greeting but didn’t quite meet her eye. She detected a hint of a blush on his cheeks. He stood there in yesterday’s clothes, looking disheveled from a night that must have ended on the sofa but somehow, he still looked good. She became self-conscious of her own bed hair.</p><p>“Morning,” she sat on the breakfast stool in front of him. “Is there a reason for all this?” She asked, noticing the already plated bacon. “Didn’t take you as a make the breakfast the next morning sort of guy.”</p><p>“Oh, how little you know,” Tim scoffed.</p><p>Perhaps the flirting, if it could be called that, would have gone further, Lucy mused, had Jackson not hopped up on the stool beside her at that moment.</p><p>“We have half an hour to get to shift,” Tim said sliding her a plate. “Eat fast, and drive in together, I’ll meet you there.”</p><p>And then he left with a small smile in goodbye.</p><hr/><p>“Sooooo,” Jackson began as soon as the door shut. “You got anything to tell me?”</p><p>It was Lucy’s turn to blush. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”</p><p>“Oh, don’t start, I saw you two last night all snuggled up.”</p><p>“It wasn’t what it looked like. Tim’s just a friend.”</p><p>Yet, as Lucy said the words, she found that she didn’t fully believe them herself. Sure, she and Tim were self-proclaimed friends now, but last night had felt more than that: his obvious worry, the way he blushed, her reactions to his touch, how she hadn’t had a nightmare with him holding her.</p><p>“Mhmmm” Jackson replied. “And that’s why he insisted on helping me cook breakfast for you this morning?”</p><p>Lucy didn’t reply. Truthfully, she was speechless.</p><p>Jackson thankfully gave in. “You’re lucky we’ve got to hurry to make it to work on time because this interrogation is not over.”</p><hr/><p>They arrived at the precinct to find that there had been no developments in the case. The first 24 hours being so crucial meant that there was a sense of defeat within the department. It was felt as soon as Lucy entered the building and she tried not to let it show but it knocked her out of sorts. Spending the night with Tim and his kind words had given her a great deal of comfort but this drained it from her.</p><p>Lucy got dressed on autopilot and made her way into roll call. She automatically found her usual seat but she stopped just as she was about to sit down. She remembered the day before when Tim had taken her to the back of the room, and she looked over to find him staring at her. They were in a room full of cops, and colleagues, but the look they shared was loaded. His raised eyebrow and a quirk of the mouth said if you dare to come sit up here, I won’t stop you. As much as she would have preferred it: she couldn’t. It was different when he led her there. If she walked there now it would look as though she was ignoring rules and their social order. So, she sat in her own seat.</p><p>Agent Johnson arrived before she could speak to John or Jackson and began to give them a quick briefing whilst Sergeant Grey stood behind her. There were no new leads, so it didn’t take long. Lucy did notice that an image of her letter was attached to the whiteboard and only briefly involved in the presentation on the screen. It meant that they had discussed it before, but she couldn’t understand when that could have been. Had she deliberately been excluded? Had Tim had an ulterior motive when he’d suggested that they work from the break room the day before?</p><p>She didn’t know. All she knew was that Rosalind was still winning and that there was something she wasn’t being told. Agent Grey took to the podium to hand out assignments. The fact she wasn’t given one all but confirmed it.</p><p>“Officer Chen,” Grey waited until he had dismissed everyone and there was enough movement to distract from their conversation. Sitting at the front gave extra privacy. “Wait here a moment.”</p><p>Lucy did as she was told. She could feel an extra set of eyes behind her and she turned to notice that Tim had also stayed. She had listened out for his name and knew he had no assignment either.</p><p>“Orders from the chief are that you stay here.”</p><p>Lucy went to argue but Agent Johnson cut her off.</p><p>“I think that it’s wise to do so. You can work the tip line. You know Rosalind. You could be the difference in working out who is telling the truth.”</p><p>Lucy was about to argue her case further when Tim spoke from behind her.</p><p>“I’ll stay here and go through the tip line too.”</p><p>Lucy felt anger rise in her. She knew Tim hated the tip line. The only reason he could possibly be volunteering for it was to be a babysitter. Feeling cornered and confused, she knew her only choice was to agree.</p><p>“If the Chief wants it, I don’t have much of a say anyway.”</p><hr/><p>Lucy and Tim sat side by side in the center of the precinct, a buzz of activity surrounding them as they answered phones. Lucy forced herself to remain calm for a total of two bullshit calls before she lost it.</p><p>“I get why the chief wants me out of the field, I even get why Johnson and Grey support it, but what I don’t understand is in what world Tim Bradford would voluntarily take tip lines over knocking down doors.”</p><p>“I told you, we’re partners on this. If you’re working tip calls then so am I.” Lucy’s anger simmered slightly at the care on his face, last night coming back to her. She felt guilty for snapping again but his behavior recently was so unlike him it made him even more unpredictable than usual.</p><p>“And I wanted to discuss your idea of Rosalind not working alone and of her planning the fire. If the FBI won’t take the idea seriously then we will. I have a friend in fire services. He specializes in arson and I’ve requested he let me know his opinion. And then we can take it to the FBI with evidence rather than a hunch.”</p><p>Lucy swallowed the rise of overwhelming gratitude that she felt as she listened to Tim’s words and how seriously he was taking not only her safety, but her judgement. “Thanks, Tim.” She tried to put as much weight into the two simple words as she could.</p><hr/><p>They worked the lines for over two hours with no leads. Lucy had so far convinced someone that Rosalind couldn’t have been trapped in their painting and reassured someone else that no she wasn’t the ghost haunting their house and that that didn’t make any sense anyway since she had been in prison when the supposed haunting had started. It was getting them nowhere.</p><p>She was just laughing at the look on Tim’s face as he told someone that Rosalind had not turned into a cat and wasn’t trying to use that form to sneak into people’s houses, when her own phone rang again.</p><p>“Hello Officer Chen,” Lucy immediately recognized the voice. She hit Tim to get his attention and the look in her eye must have said it all. He gestured for her to put the call on loud-speaker and called for a passing FBI agent to join them.</p><p>“This could be something,” he warned.</p><p>“And hello to our audience who I assume have joined us by now.”</p><p>“Rosalind.” Lucy choked as she sprung to her feet.</p><p>Silence struck the precinct as tech advisers scrambled to track the call. Tim gestured for her to keep talking.</p><p>“How are you Officer Chen? A new date of death on the horizon must be bringing back some difficult memories. You must be nervous of what’s to come but I suppose you are an expert in time running out aren’t you?”</p><p>Lucy felt Tim stiffen beside her and he moved closer, almost as though he was trying to physically protect her.</p><p>“Actually, I’m an expert at proving psychopaths like you wrong,” Lucy retorted. “Now, what do you want, to tease me? Because I have all day for that. I’d rather talk to you than a bunch of crazies or-”</p><p>“Oh, that’s enough delaying Officer Chen you won’t be able to trace this call anyhow. I just wanted to let you know that I have a present for you. I think you’ll know where to find it. Goodbye.”</p><p>The line went dead. The attention of the small crowd of officers that had gathered immediately turned to the FBI tech team. The sound of frantic key typing was all that could be heard.</p><p>Lucy wasn’t sure how much time had passed before the typing gradually slowed. One agent reluctantly turned to Agent Johnson who had been standing quietly to the side. “Sorry mam we can’t trace it.”</p><p>Lucy hadn’t believed for a second that they would. Her mind was elsewhere. The present was somewhere she knew, somewhere related to her. She could only think of one place.</p><p>“Sir?” Despite Agent Johnson being in charge, it felt right to address Grey. He turned to look at her and she felt the eyes of every cop and agent do the same. “I think I know where she is.” Her throat felt like sandpaper. Her tongue felt heavy as spoke, but she pushed through it. She knew her hand was touching her side where the tattoo was, but she didn’t have the state of mind to pull it away. “She’s where Caleb took me, her Uncle’s house.”</p><p>Neither Grey nor Agent Johnson looked surprised by her suggestion. She figured that they would be thinking the same thing.</p><p>“Don’t we have eyes on that house?” Tim turned to Agent Johnson. The woman narrowed her eyes at him.</p><p>“Yes, Officer Bradford we do.” She raised her phone where it was apparent from the screen that she was already making a call. The agent moved away from the crowd to speak into it.</p><p>The station waited in silence as Agent Johnson spoke to whoever was on the other end. Lucy felt Tim move closer to her so that he was leaning on the desk by her side. Their hands were centimeters apart. She stared at them, noticing the small scars on his fingers from the army or patrol, perhaps both. His hands, like the rest of him, were so much bigger than hers and she chose to focus on that instead of the way she felt like the room was spinning.</p><p>Agent Johnson returned to the crowd. “We need to send officers out immediately they’ve found a body.”</p><p>Lucy felt her legs buckle beneath her and she fell back into her seat. Tim in contrast sprung up straighter, his full attention on Grey, who began barking out demands for his officers, whilst Agent Johnson addressed hers.</p><p>Once Grey had dismissed most of the team to their vehicles, he turned to Tim and Lucy.</p><p>Lucy, now over her initial shock, stood to attention beside Tim, ready for their order to join the rest.</p><p>“Officer Chen, I want you to stay here.”</p><p>She immediately protested, “With due respect sir, this is bait for me, she wants me there, I’m not hiding at the station.”</p><p>“It’s Chief’s orders Chen,” Grey moved closer to her, “You’re one of the best cops I’ve seen but I don’t want you there, not today.”</p><p>Agent Johnson joined them, “It’s what Rosalind wants,” she argued. “There might be something there that only Officer Chen will know.”</p><p>Lucy was shocked at the unexpected support, but it was short lived.</p><p>“No,” Grey interrupted. “Chen stays. That’s my final verdict. Officer Bradford you may stay with your partner or join the rest of the team, but we leave now.”</p><p>With that Grey left with Agent Johnson following him, a look of anger on her face. Lucy supposed she wasn’t a woman that was used to losing an argument.</p><p>“Chen,” Tim turned to face her. As he moved their hands touched. With everything going on Lucy cringed at herself for noticing it. “It’s probably for the best that you stay, we don’t want to be seen to be giving into her commands.”</p><p>Lucy could feel the tension rolling off of him in waves and as much as a part of her wanted him to stay, she knew what had to happen. “Go Tim.”</p><p>Tim frowned at her.</p><p>“I know you want to, and I’d feel better if you did, but could you do me a favor?”</p><p>“You’re asking for a lot of favors just now Boot.”</p><p>Lucy threw him the same look she did every time he called her that. “Will you turn on your body cam so I can watch from my phone?”</p><p>Tim eyes narrowed but they never left hers. “Are you sure? We don’t know what we are heading into?”</p><p>Lucy nodded. “I need this.”</p><p>Tim conceded. She knew that if there was more time he probably would have argued further.</p><p>With one last look between them that lasted far too long, during which she was sure that he was trying to tell her something, perhaps trying to find the words to say whatever it was out loud, he turned and left.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you very much for all of the continued support for this story. Please let me know what you thought about this chapter. Does anyone have any predictions as to who the body is?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you all again for the support on this story. It was great to read people's theories on what would happen next. </p><p>Warning for vague mentions of violence in this chapter.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tim drove as fast as he was able to, without being reckless, in order to catch up with the convoy. Thankfully, he was able to, and they made quick work of driving to Rosalind’s Uncle’s farmhouse. For the entire journey, Tim’s eyes kept flicking over to Lucy’s seat. He cursed himself for it every time they did.</p><p>He didn’t have time for fear on the job and he refused to let his head go there, but the drive reminded him of almost a year prior when he was heading out to the farmhouse in the hopes of finding his partner alive. This time it was in the hopes of finding a lead that would keep her that way.</p><p>He didn’t want to entertain the thought that Rosalind could get a hold of her. Lucy was at the precinct. It was the safest place she could be. He would have her back tonight, as would Jackson, and he would ask Grey for another patrol car to be set up outside. Depending on what they found at the farmhouse, he might even suggest a safe house, if Grey or the FBI didn’t beat him to it. Rosalind wouldn't be touching a hair on Lucy’s head.</p><p>Still, no matter how many times he tried to reassure himself of that fact, he couldn’t stop the knot in his chest from tightening as he thought about what he would be faced with when he arrived, of what Rosalind’s gift could be.</p><p>Taking steady breaths, he forced himself to prepare for something horrific, doing the only thing he knew how to in this situation. He shut down. Piece by piece, he built up his walls around his heart, he let himself zone out, focusing solely on the driving, not letting a single second of anything else enter his consciousness.</p><p>He just drove.</p><p>By the time they arrived at the scene, Tim was shut down as much as he could let himself be. As a cop, he tried to be kind and helpful to citizens as best that he could. He’d learnt how much of a strength empathy could be from working with Lucy and he’d tried to encourage more of that from himself as a result. But this was not a typical patrol call and he had a feeling that shutting that part of him down might be the only way he would be able to handle what came next.   </p><p>He jumped from the car on autopilot to hear Grey giving orders to breach the house.</p><p>Tim entered through the back door and moved straight up the stairs, gun at the ready. From the dirt and rot, it was clear that the house had been abandoned. He pushed through the door of what he guessed was at one point a bedroom but now had next to no furniture save the broken rails of a bed-frame and an empty wardrobe.</p><p>He shouted, “Clear,” just as a voice echoed from below.</p><p>“Body!”</p><p>A fracture cracked in Tim's armor, his heartbeat increased, but he pushed on, clearing another empty room. He could hear a group of officers congregating in the main living space below where he assumed the body must be. With the rest of the house now cleared; he moved to join them.</p><p>Officers were telling others not to look. Someone was being sick outside. The smell of copper signified that there was a lot of blood.</p><p>Flashes of Rosalind’s fourth victim came to Tim’s mind, alongside the regret he had felt for a month after it, when the destruction was all he could see every time he closed his eyes. A voice in his head screamed at him not to look. He ignored it. With Lucy’s life in jeopardy he knew he had to see everything.</p><p>He also knew that Lucy would have heard from the stream what he was about to see. She would have been able to make the call whether or not to look away when he entered. He gave her a second longer to make her decision and then he moved forward.</p><p>The blood was the first thing he saw, that and the buzzing of flies. The body of a woman lay on the floor. It was contorted in a way that suggested Rosalind hadn’t changed her MO. He knew the poor woman would not be fully intact.</p><p>But whilst the body had his stomach churning and he felt his early breakfast crawling back up his throat, it was what he saw on the wall that caused him to freeze.</p><p>He switched his body camera off.</p><p> </p><hr/><p>Tim’s feed came on as he got out of the shop. Seeing the house again made Lucy’s stomach flip but she gripped the table before her and forced herself to focus. She watched as Tim was ordered to breach with the rest of the team and he moved upstairs. He cleared a room as there was a shout of “Body!” from somewhere else.</p><p>Lucy could hear a thunder of footfall as the officers gathered and she felt her heart begin to race. Her palms were sweating, causing her grip to falter. She let go of the table and curled them into fists. The break room was empty as the majority of the officers were either on the street or at the house, so she made no attempt to stop the gasp that escaped her when she watched Tim enter the room.</p><p>She had considered closing her eyes or turning away. She knew he had stopped at the door for an extra beat to give her that choice, but she decided she had to see it. Whoever had died had lost their life so that Rosalind could mess with her and she owed them at least that.</p><p>The deep, crimson red caught her attention first, followed by the fact that the body was contorted in an impossible way. She closed her eyes for a second despite her best interests and opened them again to see a faint silhouette on the wall. It was brought into focus as Tim turned his attention to it.</p><p>She saw, for a split second, a collage of photographs arranged on display. She recognized herself immediately. Each one was cropped to show only her, from various locations, obviously over a significant period of time. She couldn’t make out all of them from the small frame and the fact that there was blood dripping down them. But she could see that the blood formed letters. Just as she read the words, the screen went black.</p><p>It wouldn’t have mattered anyway for she wouldn’t have seen any more.</p><p>She turned into the nearest garbage can and threw up.</p><p>Painted in blood over the arrangement of photographs was three words:</p><p>SEE YOU SOON</p><hr/><p>Tim stared at the wall and felt a coldness overtake him. He felt numb. He wondered if his body was going into shock, but then he realized that if he could wonder that he couldn’t really be in shock at all. He heard Grey call for everyone to gather outside. But Tim couldn’t force himself to leave.</p><p>Instead, he moved closer to the pictures in order to fully inspect them. He shuddered as he noticed that they were all from a variety of different places and times. There were many from different crime scenes, the police tape was a give-away to that. He was cropped out, but he knew he was by Lucy’s side in most of them.</p><p>They had been taken over a course of months, during which Rosalind was in prison. If there was any doubt that she had a partner, there wasn’t any more.</p><p>His attention was drawn to one in particular. Lucy was smiling and looking up at someone taller than her. She was wearing a white top and a dark jacket. He recognized the outfit and the smile for he had long since memorized the look on her face when he told her he had turned down the North Hollywood position because he hadn’t finished training her yet.</p><p>Her look of wonder was stained with blood. </p><p>Moving across, he spotted some photographs that were blurry, obviously having been taken from a distance and curtains often obscured the view. But he recognized the window that framed them and the bouquet of sunflowers.</p><p>Rosalind and her partner knew where Lucy lived. They had been watching her the entire time.</p><p>Agent Johnson’s voice carried into the house, cutting through the silence.  </p><p>Tim saw red.</p><p>He stormed from the building, his hands forming fists at his side. Feeling his face heat with anger, he shoved through the front door and onto the porch, towering over the officers gathered there, his stare solely on the FBI Agent addressing them.</p><p>“Who was supposed to be watching the house?" He shouted, watching as everyone turned their attention from Agent Johnson to him. "What half-assed, pathetic,-" </p><p>He was cut off by Sergeant Grey, “That’s enough Officer Bradford!”</p><p>Tim didn’t take his eyes off of Agent Johnson.</p><p>“No, it’s not enough! She was here!” He snapped. He could picture the psychopath, dragging the blooded corpse into the house, smearing pictures of Lucy with her victim’s blood. “Rosalind was right here, and your team should have stopped her. If something happens to Lucy because of this I swear-”</p><p>He flew down the stairs as he spoke, heading directly for Agent Johnson, fully prepared to push his way through the crowd of officers to get there, when Angela and Jackson grabbed him.</p><p>“Officer Bradford I said that’s enough!” Grey roared. The anger in his voice was enough to cause Tim to stop. He suddenly became aware of what he was doing. The realization that Lucy was in danger, that she was alone at the precinct having just witnessed everything, gripped him.</p><p>“Get him out of here,” Grey ordered.</p><p>Tim felt Angela and Jackson begin to guide him to his car. He knew he could break free of the two smaller officers if he tried hard enough but he wanted to leave anyway.</p><p>“Get off me,” he grunted when they reached his shop. He shrugged them off.</p><p>“Tim, what the hell?” Angela looked up at him, worry clear in her face despite the anger in her tone.</p><p>“I can’t lose her again,” Tim choked. He watched Angela’s eyes widen in shock. He knew he wasn’t being professional, he would no doubt be reprimanded for his actions, but he didn’t care. All that mattered was that Lucy was safe.</p><p>With that thought in mind he turned from them both and climbed in his car, speeding from the scene and back to the station.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So whilst I can say I actually considered each of the characters that people suggested, the common theory of Emmett being the victim has obviously been ruled out. All will be revealed in the next chapter. Please let me know what you thought!</p><p>My tumblr is Lupin72 it needs a makeover but I'm happy to talk Chenford!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you so much for the continued support of this story. I apologize for the delay in this chapter, I struggled with editing it. I hope it's okay!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After cleaning up her mess, Lucy left the break room. She found herself standing at the front of the roll-call room without any recollection of the journey there. Before her, the active case boards displayed all the evidence they had collected so far.</p><p>They weren’t just chasing an escaped convict anymore. It was now a murder investigation.</p><p>Lucy’s stomach churned as she thought back to the poor woman whose body she had just seen. She knew in her gut it would be someone significant. Knew that when the team rolled in, they would no doubt have a name. She couldn’t stop herself from running through a list of who it could be. None of her close family or friends fitted the profile she had gotten a glimpse of, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t know who it was.</p><p>With some effort, she forced herself to take a deep breath and lean back against one of the desks. A woman was dead because Rosalind wanted to mess with her. An innocent person had lost their life because Rosalind wanted her scared for every second of today and tomorrow, until the following day when she planned to have her in her grasp.</p><p>The fact Rosalind had killed also hinted that Lucy wasn’t going to be the only victim unless they caught her soon. Sure, she might be the next, but this first killing spoke to a murder spree. It wouldn’t end with her death. For some reason, the thought didn’t terrify her as much as it grounded her and gave Lucy even more cause to focus. This was bigger than just a vendetta against her and she would be damned if anyone else died because of it.</p><p>She wasn’t sure how long she stood there for, her mind reeling and heart racing as she tried to think of what her next move should be, when she heard footsteps from outside.</p><p>Lucy turned to see Tim running towards the roll call room looking alarmed. He stopped as they made eye contact and Lucy swore there was relief in his gaze. He took a second just to look, almost drinking her in, and then he pushed through the door.</p><p>With a strong sense of purpose, Tim moved straight for her so that she wasn’t sure that he was going to stop. When he eventually did, he was so close that their feet almost touched, and Lucy had to crane her neck up to look at him.</p><p>After a beat, Tim’s arms rose and, for a second, Lucy thought he was going to give her a hug. She couldn’t deny that it would have been welcome, but his hands froze mid-air, as he seemed to realize what he was doing, and eventually they came to rest on her shoulders.</p><p>Slowly, he let them fall so that his fingertips gazed her arms. Had she not been so focused on the feeling, she might have missed it.</p><p>“You okay?” He asked.</p><p>“Yeah, you?” Her voice came out choked, even as she tried to force herself to sound normal despite the heat that she felt between them.</p><p>Tim nodded in reply and stepped back. At the distance, the air seemed to clear, and Lucy felt a fresh wave of oxygen flood into her lungs.</p><p>However, the worry on his face wasn’t washed away by the brief glimpse of calm she had seen in his eyes when he touched her.   </p><p>The realization caused her own fear, which she had finally wrestled into control, to rear its head again. She refused to succumb to it and instead forced herself to speak.</p><p>“I saw the pictures,” Lucy began.</p><p>“I would have told you all about them, I wasn’t shielding you, but I didn’t think you needed to see all of that live.”</p><p>“I appreciate that.”</p><p>They moved in sync so that they both leaned against the same desk, still close enough she could feel the tension from him, although she guessed anyone would have sensed it from a distance.</p><p>“Where’s everyone else?” She asked, suddenly aware that no one had followed him.</p><p>“Still at the scene.”</p><p>Tim didn’t look at her as he spoke, and it was enough for Lucy to spring to her feet in alarm. “Why aren’t you?”</p><p>“Some of the pictures were of you at home.”  </p><p>It wasn’t an answer, not directly, but it made Lucy pause. She had suspected it, but the confirmation was still a blow.</p><p>“That’s not exactly surprising,” Lucy replied, “Rosalind’s smart and if this doesn’t show premeditation…” She trailed off, turning from Tim as her attention was drawn back to the boards.</p><p>Lucy fully expected her brain to shut down but instead it kicked into action. She wasn’t sure if it was being in the roll-call room and standing in front of the evidence, or having Tim at her side, but she felt as though she was standing away from herself for a minute, looking at the case as a cop instead of as a victim. They knew that Rosalind had help. They knew that she had planned this. And now they knew that she knew Lucy she lived. Not for the first time, Lucy was forced to question who was really hunting whom.</p><p>One thing was sure, Rosalind had been controlling the hunt so far and it was time that they got some of that control back. Lucy had the beginnings of a plan in mind but to start with she needed to know all the details.</p><p>“Who was the victim?”</p><p>Tim looked away from her, and she prepared herself for a blunt reply.</p><p>“I don’t know, I left before they got an ID.”</p><p>Lucy opened her mouth to ask what the hell happened but didn’t get the chance to as Tim rose to his feet and began to pace. One hand came up to run through his hair, something she wasn’t sure she had ever seen him do before. It made him look younger someone, and she was once more struck by just how scared he was.</p><p>Something was clearly bothering him. Something deeper than the case itself. As far as she knew he had handled her life being in danger before. He had been through everything with Isabel and who knew what else. Tim didn’t get flustered, not like this.</p><p>“I’m sure you already know it’s coming but the FBI are going to start discussing safe-houses for you and I just…” Tim turned to face her. “If it’s okay I’d like to go with you.”</p><p>“Okay,” she could tell from the look on Tim’s face that he wasn’t expecting such a quick reply.</p><p>Truthfully, the answer had sprung from her before she really took the chance to think it through. However, the silence that followed, as Tim continued to pace, made her realize that it was because she didn’t need to think about it at all. Whilst the question had come out of nowhere, she had been waiting for safe houses to be discussed since she had seen the letter. Being alone in a strange house had been her biggest concern so Tim volunteering? She had no argument.</p><p>More importantly, agreeing to a safe house now, when it was just a hypothetical with Tim, meant that it was the perfect back-up plan if her own was shot down. For, what she had in mind was a risk and, looking at Tim, she was almost certain she wasn’t going to have his support when it came to suggesting it.</p><hr/><p>Before they could talk any further, Lucy saw movement behind Tim. He followed her gaze and they turned to see Agent Johnson and Sergeant Grey. Lucy noticed that Tim’s shoulders straightened as though he was bracing for an attack. Once more she was forced to consider what the hell had happened at the scene that had forced him to leave early and alone.</p><p>Grey looked in their direction for the second it took to gesture for them to follow and otherwise continued walking. Agent Johnson didn’t acknowledge them at all.</p><p>In response, Tim and Lucy left the roll call room and the four of them made their way to Grey’s office.</p><p>Lucy watched through the glass as Sergeant Grey sat behind his desk whilst Agent Johnson stood behind him and to the side so that she could be seen.</p><p>Tim opened the door for her as usual and they entered so that they stood to attention side by side. Agent Johnson looked particularly annoyed as she stared at Tim. Lucy figured whatever had happened it was between them.</p><p>“Officer Chen, I suspect Officer Bradford told you everything?”</p><p>“Yes sir, I saw the victim and the pictures with the note for me.”</p><p>Grey looked gravely at Lucy. He didn’t seem to have any anger directed towards Tim which Lucy found curious. He also, thankfully, didn’t ask her to clarify what she meant by saw.</p><p>However, he did seem to take a second to gather himself before he spoke again and Lucy found bracing for something terrible.</p><p>“We got fingerprint ID at the scene. The victim was Nora Valdez.”</p><p>It took Lucy less than a second to realize who it was. “The woman that Nolan saved when Caleb kidnapped her.”</p><p>Grey nodded in confirmation.</p><p>Lucy wasn’t shocked by the news, the woman had, after all, been on the mental list she had ran through. Still, giving a name and a face to such a horrendous death caused a pang of pain to strike through Lucy’s chest. She forced herself to remain in check and professional, it would be needed for what she was about to say.</p><p>Tim’s emotions on the other hand obviously couldn’t be contained for he shouted, “Did the FBI even check on her? She was tied to the case!”</p><p>“Your anger has got you in enough trouble today Officer Bradford, I’ve had to persuade Agent Johnson against your suspension, so I suggest you watch your tone.” Lucy looked to Tim at Grey’s words, but her partner continued to glare at Agent Johnson.</p><p>“Miss Valdez was out of town and since we suspected Rosalind was staying local, we hadn’t checked beyond a call which she answered yesterday afternoon. We asked her to stay with someone and remain alert. We had no reason to believe that Rosalind knew where she was or that she was in imminent danger. It obviously wasn’t enough, and I will have to live with that.”</p><p>A tense silence filled the room. Lucy couldn’t help her own anger at the agent’s obvious incompetence. It also hadn’t escaped her that the older woman had yet to admit that Rosalind was clearly not working alone, especially when she had been the one to disregard it.</p><p>“Now Officer Chen,” Lucy turned her attention to Grey, schooling herself to let go of her anger for a minute so that she could listen to him and then make her point. “I want you in a safe house for the next two nights at least. Agent Johnson is confident with the way things are going now that Rosalind will make a move of some sort and we want to-“</p><p>“Why don’t we let her sir?” Lucy interrupted.</p><p>Grey raised his eyebrow at her in question, “What exactly are you referring to?”</p><p>“Rosalind has proven to be hard to find. From the blood, the pictures, and the time frame from the letter, we know that her next target is me and that she’s going to make her move soon. If we have any hope of stopping her, it’s going to be then. It’s the only time we will know for sure where she is. So, I would like to suggest that instead of a safe house, I stay put and we let her try to take me.”</p><p>Tim immediately started to argue against the idea of using her as bait but before he could get very far Agent Johnson cleared her throat and stepped forward.</p><p>“I actually think Officer Chen’s idea deserves to be considered.”</p><p>Sergeant Grey turned to the agent, “I’m not comfortable putting one of my officers in danger Agent Johnson.”</p><p>“You know as well as I do Sergeant that killers like Rosalind thrive from the kill. She’s on a high now and from her previous killings that should last a while, during which time she will be laying low. So, unless you have any other ideas, the one solid lead we have is that she wants to take Officer Chen by the sixth and I say we use it.”</p><p>Silence filled the room again. Lucy could feel Tim practically vibrating beside her. She wanted to reach out to try to calm him somehow and assure him that this was their only play, but she knew that at that moment it wouldn’t be well received.</p><p>Agent Johnson continued, “We will have eyes on the street, it could be our best shot and respectfully I’m running this investigation so if Officer Chen is happy with it, then I’m more than happy to precede.”</p><p>“May I make a suggestion?”</p><p>It was probably the unexpected calmness in Tim’s voice that made Agent Johnson pause to consider him.</p><p>“Officer Chen’s apartment is just that, an apartment. It’s got too many variables with other occupants and it would be impossible for us to have eyes on both the front and back entrance to the building.”</p><p>Lucy watched as a small crease appeared in Agent Johnson’s brow, an indication that Tim had just ruined their plan. She herself had to admit that he was right.</p><p>They seemed to come to a standstill as they waited for Tim to provide whatever solution he had in mind. Lucy felt him turn to face her. A flicker of something she didn’t quite recognize flashed over his face as their eyes met.</p><p>“I want to suggest that Officer Chen stays at my place tonight. I was cut out of most of the photographs so it wouldn’t surprise me if Rosalind’s partner knew where I lived too. And if they do still have eyes on her, which I think we all suspect is the case, then they could easily track her there.”</p><p>Lucy blinked in surprise at the offer. It was completely unexpected but also so very much welcomed. He was listening to her suggestion and keeping her safe whilst offering his own privacy, something she knew he kept close to his chest. Yet there was something burning in his eyes, a turmoil that said that he was offering a solution but wasn’t entirely happy with the situation. Sheepishly, feeling very aware that Sergeant Grey and Agent Johnson were watching intently, she ducked her head as she replied with a quiet agreement.</p><p>Tim turned his attention back to their bosses. “My house is one floor. I live alone with a dog that barks at strangers. The street is quiet and has enough space for discreet eyes from both sides. And this way if it looks like Lucy is staying with me out of protection, Rosalind could be less likely to suspect a set-up.”</p><p>Agent Johnson actually looked impressed and Lucy could discern just a hint of surprise on Grey’s face which he covered with a firm nod of acceptance.</p><p>“That works for me,” Agent Johnson rose to her full height and reached into her pocket for her phone. “I’ll coordinate with a team for unmarked surveillance.” She left without another word.</p><p>“You two are dismissed. I want you to stay in the station until surveillance is organized. Officer Bradford I recommend you use that time to write me a written report explaining your behavior at the crime scene.” Grey ordered. Once more the sergeant looked between them as though he was trying to catch them out. Lucy wasn’t sure what he was hoping to find but she followed Tim out of the door without giving it anymore thought.</p><hr/><p>Tim stormed ahead of her and Lucy rushed to keep up with him. He didn’t stop at the break room like she expected but instead headed towards the gym. With everyone still either on patrol or at the crime scene it was unsurprisingly empty.</p><p>“I want you to think about what you’re doing Chen,” Tim spun to face her as the door slammed shut.</p><p>“I have.” Lucy answered, feeling her own anger bubbling again. He had seemed to agree to her plan and now he was shouting at her like she was his rookie who had messed up? Taking a steadying breath, she tried to put herself in his shoes, to feel the empathy which had connected them in the first place. But she found herself unable to truly understand the depth of his anger and fear. She had never seen him so out of control like this before and she couldn’t understand why. So instead she tried to explain herself as best she could in the hope that it would help him.</p><p>“Before you came back, I was standing at the case boards, staring at my date of death again. The worst part of the barrel was the waiting, knowing that death was coming and not being able to do anything about it. I can still act now. If I’m taken to a safe house and Rosalind can’t find me who’s to say she won’t kill more people. Who’s to say this doesn’t go on for weeks, months, what if we never catch her?</p><p>Lucy jumped in surprise as Tim turned to fly a fist against the punch bag beside him. He struck it with three powerful blows that must have damaged his unstrapped fists. Then he stopped and held it still, bracing himself against it as he spoke. “Yeah and what if she gets to you?”  </p><p>Lucy felt her heart ache at Tim’s obvious frustration and the pain in his voice. Her voice softened in response and she walked slowly towards him, “You said you would be there tonight, does that offer still stand?”</p><p>“Yes,” he replied without hesitation.  His back remained turned to her as he rested both fists against the bag.</p><p>“Well between you and the FBI agents parked outside, one woman and whoever she’s manipulated now, aren’t going to get to me. And I think I can handle myself just fine too.”</p><p>Tim turned his head and stared intently at her as though he was trying to work out what was going on in her head too. Not for the first time, Lucy wished that they could be open with each other. For, whilst she tried to be honest with him, it always felt like baby steps between them. Like they were giving tiny inch for tiny inch and not taking the plunge.</p><p>At least when he had Rachel, she knew he was letting someone else in, or at least she could try to convince herself that he was. From conversations with her friend, and reading between the lines, Lucy suspected that Tim had never let her in all the way either. It might have been part of the reason their relationship fell apart.</p><p>Lucy had to admit that she suspected he let her in more than most. Angela had made a remark about it once, and she didn’t even know all that they had been through with regards to Isabel. But still he kept his guard up, acting instead of speaking. Showing her that he was clearly not happy with her choice, that he didn’t want her in danger, but not telling her exactly why. It was more than professional, if it had been, he wouldn’t have offered his own home and he wouldn’t have held her last night.</p><p>“Okay,” Tim reluctantly answered.</p><p>“What happened at the crime scene, Tim?” Lucy knew that she was pushing it but standing there in front of him reminded her of two of the most important parts of their friendship: when she gave him the tapes and when he gave her back her ring. This time, she just hoped he’d give her an explanation as to what was going on in his head.</p><p>Sadly, it wasn’t to be.</p><p>“I’m going to write up that report.” He left.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for reading, please let me know what you thought!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Once more a huge thank you to everyone for taking the time to read, comment and leave kudos. All are very much appreciated.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tim met Lucy by the front desk on her way out of the building. She hadn’t seen him since the gym, which she was sure was a choice on his part. Whatever had happened at the scene, and however he was feeling, he seemed to want to keep her close but push her away at the same time.</p><p>The paradox was infuriating but Lucy had long since adapted to feeling that way about him.</p><p>“Ready to go?” Tim asked, looking down at her but not quite meeting her gaze.</p><p>She confirmed that she was, and they left the precinct, heading towards Tim’s car. Luckily, Jackson had driven them in, so she could leave with Tim without worrying about her own car.</p><p>The plan had been cleared after a lengthy discussion between Agent Johnson, Sergeant Grey and the Chief. It had been decided that, for the next two nights at least, during which they expected Rosalind to make her move, Lucy would be staying with Tim. Alone.</p><p>Too many agents inside the building might spook Rosalind and they wanted her to make an attempt. Instead, surveillance teams would be place out front and back. The officers would rotate on a strict schedule to maintain alertness and had all been cleared by the department.</p><p>They also had radios to use in the house for instant communication with the teams outside as well as cell phones with the numbers of each member programmed in for a more secure communication link.</p><p>During shift time, Lucy was to stay in the precinct and was never to drive to or from work alone. Her routes also had to be sporadic.</p><p>For they wanted Rosalind to make her move, but only on their terms. And that meant at Tim's house.</p><p>So, in line with the plan, Tim and Lucy walked side by side to Tim’s car. He unlocked it, letting Lucy get in first before he made his way round to the driver’s seat.</p><p>When he pulled out onto the street, Lucy considered starting up a conversation as she would have done had they been on patrol. She decided against it when she noticed how tight Tim was holding the wheel and how stern his face was. She had pushed enough and so she bit her tongue and let Tim drive in silence. He would hopefully open-up when he was ready. Otherwise she would try to talk with him later but not just now when they had the whole night ahead.</p><p>He sat silently brooding for the entire journey.</p><hr/><p>As they pulled up by the house, Lucy gave a brief nod to the black sedan by the front gate. It wasn’t the most subtle, but it would do the job.  </p><p>Kujo began to bark when they approached the door and Lucy felt a smile spread across her face the easiest it had all day.</p><p>Tim let them inside. The boxer didn’t jump up as she expected. Instead he sat obediently, tail thrashing and barking happily at Tim who surprised her by dropping into a squat and fussing over the dog for a few seconds.</p><p>He then turned to her and said, “Hey Kujo, you remember Chen?”</p><p>“Hi boy,” Lucy greeted, cuddling the dog who happily moved towards her, whilst Tim rose to take off his jacket.</p><p>After a few minutes, Lucy awkwardly rose to her feet. Tim offered his hand for her jacket and then led the way into his home.</p><p>“Okay so this is the living room, kitchen is through there and to the left is the bedroom, the door on the right is the spare room and down the bottom is the restroom.”</p><p>Lucy merely nodded, trying to take it all in. If day one rookie Lucy Chen could see herself now…</p><p>“You hungry? I have leftover chicken from last night?</p><p>Lucy recognized that he didn’t know what to do with himself, hovering awkwardly in his own home.</p><p>She wasn’t in the mood to eat yet. The atmosphere was still too tense, and she knew that the only way either of them would be able settle was if they spoke.</p><p>“Could we maybe sit for a bit and talk first, please?” She offered.</p><p>She wasn’t really expecting him to say yes but he surrendered with a nod and sat on the sofa. She did the same. Kujo must have sensed the tension for he jumped up to lie down in the significant space Lucy had left between them.</p><p>They sat in silence for a few minutes. Lucy scratched Kujo behind the ears and watched as Tim clearly mulled over what he wanted to say. It didn’t need to be said what the topic of discussion should be.</p><p>“I know you want to know what happened at the scene. Truthfully, I’m embarrassed by it, but I also know you will look for the report if I don’t tell you.” Tim turned to fully face her. “I lost my temper and shouted at Agent Johnson. It wasn’t terrible, but it was definitely out of line, and to be honest, I should have been suspended for it.”</p><p>Lucy considered his words. The sporadic behavior was so unlike the Tim she knew. She’d seen him punch a hole in a wall and start a fight but that was the Tim who was trying to process everything that had happened between him and Isabel. The Tim she knew now, the one who had told her he was responsible for her kidnapping, the one who had confessed his guilt over Denny, <em>that</em> Tim was more controlled and more open with her. She didn’t understand, so she asked, “Why?”</p><p>She watched as his hands dropped between his knees and he bowed his head down towards them. His leg began to bounce. Lucy was just beginning to wonder if he was ever going to answer her when he cleared his throat and confessed, “Because I’ve held you dead in my arms once already Lucy and I’ve never felt so-” He stopped seeming to catch himself.</p><p>Lucy startled at the use of her name, so rare coming from his lips. It felt intimate. She held her breath as she waited for him to finish.</p><p>After a beat, he awkwardly cleared his throat and his gaze lifted to look at her. “I can’t lose you again.”</p><p>Before she could respond, the radio Tim had placed on the table crackled with Agent Johnson’s voice announcing that she was on the way to their door.</p><p>As if on cue, Kujo began to bark.</p><hr/><p>“Officer Bradford.” The agent greeted as Tim opened the door whilst Lucy encouraged Kujo to sit. Despite her best efforts, the boxer continued jumping up in a clear attempt to get to Agent Johnson.</p><p>Tim greeted the agent in return and then turned to order Kujo to stay back. Whilst the dog reluctantly sat, the barking continued. It wasn’t normal for him to be so hyperactive, even with a stranger.</p><p>“A peace offering.” Agent Johnson offered them two cups of coffee but Kujo began to bounce when she got too close so that she was forced to take a step back. “The surveillance team should have done a better job both at the house and with Miss Valdez. That’s on me. They were acting on my orders.”</p><p>Tim thanked her and took the offered drinks.</p><p>The agent warily eyed Kujo as she addressed Lucy, “Officer Chen I just wanted to say it took a lot of courage to volunteer for this, I’ve been impressed by you the last few days, you’re a good cop.”</p><p>That was one thing he and Agent Johnson could agree on, Tim noted, watching Lucy blush at the compliment.</p><p>“I want you both to know that I’m taking the next surveillance shift out front. I’ve put my trust in the wrong people before and I won’t let it happen again. So, you both stay safe and give me a call if you need anything, red SUV is mine.”</p><p>Tim looked over her shoulder to see that the black sedan had disappeared and had been replaced with the vehicle the agent had described. From the angle, he could only see the rear, but he knew she would have a good view from the front seat.</p><p>It should have put him at ease, yet he still had the overwhelming urge to take Lucy in his own truck and drive them somewhere Rosalind would never find her. It was a fantasy he had imagined since he saw the writing in blood on the wall. He wasn’t used to running from danger but with Lucy it felt different somehow. If it were up to him, they would be in a safe house.</p><p>However, ultimately it wasn’t his decision and Lucy had made her choice. He would support it.</p><p>Kujo continued to fight to get free from Lucy’s hold on his collar so that she was forced to take the dog back inside. Tim couldn’t help the part of him that was proud of the dog for his judgement. He still wasn’t very fond of the agent himself. Coffee, compliments and apologies be damned.</p><p>“Officer Bradford,” Agent Johnson turned back to face him, just as he was about to close the door.</p><p>“If you don’t mind me asking how long have you two been together?”</p><p>Tim froze. The agent must have interpreted his shock for fear for she clarified, “It’s alright, I’m FBI the personal life’s of patrol officers aren’t really my concern.”</p><p>“It’s strictly professional between us.” Tim spluttered. He knew he wasn’t lying. Sure, they had gotten close recently, but they were only friends. So why did he feel as though he was trying to cover up for something?</p><p>“Hmm sorry, I didn’t mean to accuse you or anything, it just seemed more than that to me.”</p><p>With a shrug and a look that said she didn’t believe him, Agent Johnson left.</p><hr/><p>Tim had been awkwardly brooding again since they sat down to drink the peace-offering coffee.  Lucy wasn’t sure what his problem was now, but she would be damned if he stayed silent after his earlier confession.</p><p>“You know, we never discussed that day,” Lucy began, taking a sip of the coffee, she spluttered when she realized it was black.</p><p>Tim got to his feet immediately and made his way into the kitchen only to return with milk and sugar.</p><p>He still looked lost in his own head as he sat beside her to drink his own coffee, so she clarified, “My kidnapping. We never really spoke about it.”</p><p>“I meant what I said before, it was one of the worst days of my life. But that means nothing compared to what you were living.” Tim replied.</p><p>Lucy took her time preparing her coffee and ignored the look Tim gave her when she added more than her usual amount of sugar, which she knew from experience that he already deemed too much. A serial killer was after her: she deserved some extra.</p><p>“Did you ever read my report?” Lucy asked. It had bothered her since she wrote it: who would read her account of her trauma. She had always wondered if he had.</p><p>“Yes,” he admitted. “I had access as your TO and I wanted to make sure I knew what you had faced so I could help with your training.”</p><p>She sensed it was more than that. She had always been the terrible liar but knowing Tim as she did, she recognized a few of the tells that he couldn’t quite hide, or maybe he didn’t bother trying to hide with her. The way he took another sip of his coffee to cover for not looking directly at her just about said it all.</p><p>“So, you know how I failed then.”</p><p>He looked at her as though she had accused him of failing rather than the other way around.</p><p>“You’re going to need to clarify that for me Boot.”</p><p>Lucy shook her head and took a deep sip of coffee before she rose to her feet. Kujo looked up at her but remained where he was, curled up in his bed by the door, visibly more relaxed now that they were alone.</p><p>“I woke up to the tattoo gun going off. I only came to for a few minutes before I blacked out again. Whatever he gave me was pretty strong, I guess. When I woke up again, I was tied to a chair. I did my best to distract him, to put him off focus and when I finally got the opportunity I escaped. Only I then fell for the trip wire, got pepper-sprayed, couldn’t even fight him off. Ultimately, I ended up in that barrel just waiting for death.” She spoke her confession to the wall, too scared to see Tim's reaction.</p><p>“I still don’t see how any of that was your fault Chen.”</p><p>“Well, I got drugged in the first place, not a good move from a cop. But I know what you’ll say, you didn’t suspect him either and I had no reason to. But that, that’s not it.”</p><p>She summoned the courage to face him. Tim looked bewildered.</p><p>If Lucy was honest with herself, judging Tim for bottling emotions was entirely hypocritical of her. The sense of failure hadn’t really left her since that day. She had denied it on more than one occasion. Acts of defiance to the voice in her head that screamed different, that told her it was in fact all her fault she nearly died. But at that moment, as Tim looked at her with such weight in his gaze, imploring her to explain, she felt the truth flow from her. She just hoped that if she opened up to him then he might do the same, and maybe they would both feel better in the process.</p><p>“After I pushed Caleb off me to run, he was down on the ground. If I had used the opportunity to properly secure him, I could have used his phone to call for help and I never would have needed saving.”</p><p>“Chen, you escaped. If it wasn’t a desert it could have been a suburb, or there might have been a neighboring farm and you would have gotten help.”</p><p>“But it<em> was</em> a desert. And I should have known that was why he was okay with not gagging me and I should have used just a few more minutes to think of a plan rather than running.”</p><p>“You were drugged. He was armed and on his territory. He had the upper-hand the entire time. Wait, is that was this is about?”</p><p>Tim rose to his feet to face her, a hint of anger in his gaze. “You think that you failed then so you’re trying to do better now? Using the upper-hand when you have it, luring Rosalind in when it’s on your terms? Because this is reckless Lucy, and we don’t know who she’s working with. You don’t have to use this as a chance to prove yourself.”</p><p>The use of her first name again made her falter. “I’m not,” she paused, considering his words. Maybe there was some truth to them that she herself had realized. “Or maybe I am, just a bit.”</p><p>“You’re risking your life to a prove a point.” He was really angry now, almost reminiscent of the TO who had trained her.  </p><p>Lucy didn’t even flinch. She had long since stopped being intimidated by that version of him.</p><p>“No, I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do and it’s our best chance of catching her and because I learnt from my past mistake. I’m not running, or hiding, not this time.”</p><p>“You’re forgetting one thing.” He took a final step into her personal space so that they were less than a meter apart. “You saved yourself from Caleb. You dropped that ring for someone to find. It was the only reason I found you. You have good instincts Chen, they make you a hell of a cop.” He paused again. His gaze turned heated. “You can learn from your mistakes or regrets but don’t let this change you.”</p><p>They stared at each other, gazes locked, almost sharing the same air. Lucy felt her cheeks begin to burn and she saw his do the same.</p><p>She watched as his eyes flickered from hers to her lips and settled there.</p><p>“I’m sorry I’ve been distant today, it’s just... When you were missing, I lost control. I couldn’t handle the thought of not finding you.”</p><p>Lucy felt her heart quicken as it always did when he opened up to her. But this time it was accompanied by a heat in his gaze she had never seen before, so that her chest ached with how fast it was beating.</p><p>“I know you don’t need to hear this right now, but I’m scared. We go out on the streets and every shift we could catch a bullet and that would be it over. But this is different. There’s a serial killer directly targeting you. We don’t know her play, only that she’s going to make it soon. We don’t know the extent of the help she has or how far she’s thought through her plan.”</p><p>Lucy swallowed. “Okay I’ll admit you’re kind of freaking me out here. Aren’t you supposed to be the one telling me you’re more than capable of fighting off anyone who tries to come into this house?”</p><p>“I’m sorry, it’s just…” He paused and took a deep breath as though preparing himself, Lucy decided she should do the same.</p><p>And then his hand rose. She noticed it was shaking. She knew it wasn’t from fear of the serial killer hunting them down out there in the darkness, but from something that existed in the fraction of empty space between them. After all, it was a fear she knew well.</p><p>The hand, which had frozen in that space, moved towards her so that it disappeared from her peripheral. It landed on her head, her unruly curls getting tangled in the fingertips as Tim let them slowly fall through his grasp. Until he gently gripped them.</p><p>“I haven’t felt this scared since Isabel.”  He hesitated and then wet his lips. His hand tightened its hold. “Hell, maybe it’s because I haven’t felt this way about someone since Isabel.”</p><p>“Tim, what are you saying?” Lucy asked. Her mouth was dry, her chest heaved.</p><p>That one deep breath caused their chests to brush against each other, the distance gone for a second before it came back on their next synchronized breath in.</p><p>He looked back down at her lips. She remembered once how he had said he was more of a show rather than a tell sort of guy. Was that what was about to happen?</p><p>She let herself drift towards him, slowly eating up the space again, letting their bodies press together more firmly, ignoring the voice in her head screaming the usual mantra she told herself of why this would never work. She might be dead soon after all.</p><p>The tension between them, built from interrupted moments, the rise in his anger, his confession and her own, grew so that the air was almost electric.</p><p>He blinked.</p><p>He tensed.</p><p>His weight shifted back.</p><p>In that second, the moment was over.</p><p>Tim awkwardly cleared his throat again, “I’ll put on the food,” he said, bending to down the rest of his coffee in one long gulp as he made his way into the kitchen.</p><p>Lucy was once more left in shock, but this time it wasn’t the kind born from fear, but from realizing that perhaps there really was more to Tim’s feelings than loyalty and protectiveness. For, if he hadn’t moved at that very second, she just might have kissed him. And she was almost certain that he would have kissed her back.</p><p>Perhaps she should have been annoyed at him for stopping it, but she knew it hadn’t been rejection. It was an act resulting from his own fear in the eye of a storm that she felt in her bones was coming, whether either of them was ready for it or not.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>My apologies for the cliffhanger of sorts. Please let me know what you thought!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you very much for the continued support. The comments for the last chapter really blew me away. I hope you enjoy this chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tim stood in the kitchen, gripping the marble counter so hard that his knuckles turned white.</p><p>He forced himself to steady his breathing, to calm his racing heart-rate and to quieten the voice in his head that was screaming at him to go back to Lucy and pull her close and not step away.</p><p>It would jeopardize her career, he reminded himself. Dating cops did not end well. He had just broken up with her best friend.</p><p>Her life was in danger.</p><p>He couldn’t, shouldn’t be focusing on anything else but that. Her safety had to be the priority. Nothing more.</p><p>More violently than he needed to, he threw the chicken on a plate and slammed it into the microwave. Whilst it heated, he boiled some rice. He didn’t think she would want anything heavier; he knew that the lead weight in his stomach meant that he didn’t.</p><p>From his living room, he could hear Kujo’s nails clip the floor and Lucy’s soft voice greeting him. Trust the dog to give her the comfort he wanted to so desperately.</p><p>As the rice boiled, Tim contemplated what he should say. He didn’t want to hurt her by not addressing their almost kiss. On the other hand, he also couldn’t think of a way to tell her why he had stepped back, without admitting that he wanted to lean forward, and without causing her pain by explaining why he couldn’t.</p><p>So, he stood, watching the bubbles, his head swimming without a clue what to do. He felt a sense of queasiness grip him. One that felt more than unease. He poured himself a glass of water to try to clear it.</p><p>Tim lifted the glass to his mouth and took a few slow sips, feeling it settle his stomach somewhat, even as his head was still spinning.</p><p>The pan sizzling caught his attention. He jumped to pull it off the heat as the water almost overflowed.</p><p>He was out of time.</p><p>Tim put the plates down on the dining table. He didn’t use it often anymore, preferring to eat on the sofa instead of at an empty table that seated six people. It had only ever been full when he and Isabel had held Thanksgiving dinner or game nights for their friends or extended family.</p><p>It hadn’t been full in years.</p><p>He called for Lucy to join him.</p><p>She walked in with Kujo trailing happily behind her. Her eyes held pain, but she smiled.</p><p>He didn’t understand it.</p><p>“Smells good,” she offered, as Tim placed the plates down across from each other. He took his seat facing the front door whilst hers faced the back entrance. All bases covered he should have relaxed some, but he still felt off. The plate of food before him should have been a godsend, he hadn’t eaten since lunch, but he couldn’t bring himself to pick up his fork.</p><p>Lucy laughed as Kujo immediately scarpered to sit at their feat.</p><p>His heart thudded in response.</p><p>“He’s still not learnt to not beg for scraps, but we’re working on it,” Tim said, his throat tight.</p><p>Lucy smiled again and scratched Kujo’s ears.</p><p>She wasn’t sad or upset with him, it was almost like she understood why he had done what he had.</p><p>“Are you wearing your gun on your ankle?” She asked, raising her brows at Tim in question before her gaze flickered back to his foot and the gun that must have caught her eye when she had pet Kujo.</p><p>The question pulled Tim out of his head, her lightness distracting him. He smirked and pulled up his Henley to reveal a second gun on his hip. “Haven’t I told you to always be prepared Boot?”</p><p>“You’re going to need to stop calling me that one day.”</p><p>“Never.”</p><p>They shared a laugh and then ate in comfortable silence. Or at least Lucy did. Tim found that the taste of the meal, as bland as it was, made him want to be sick. It wasn’t their almost kiss: she wasn’t angry at him for that and so he didn’t feel so guilty. It wasn’t the danger she was in: he knew the pain in the chest that that caused, had been accustomed to it for days. It was something else.  </p><p>He felt wrong.</p><p>A phone buzzed.</p><p>Tim startled as he realized it was his own and pulled it out from his pocket. He assumed it was a check in from Agent Johnson but the name on the screen told him otherwise.</p><p>“Hey Jones,” he greeted. He saw on Lucy’s face that she recognized the name as his friend in the fire department.</p><p>Jones spoke but Tim found that he could barely concentrate on the words, it sounded as though the fireman was speaking through a tunnel or under water. He assumed the signal must have been poor and continued to offer words of agreement as Jones talked in a staccato.</p><p>Finally, after forcing himself to focus on what the arson expert had to say, doing his best to remain calm as every new fact about the fire lead him closer and closer to one startling conclusion, Tim hung up.</p><p>He placed the phone on the table and looked at Lucy for the first time since he took the call. She had Kujo tucked against her thigh, a crease between her eyebrows but hope in her eyes.</p><p>Tim wasn’t sure which reaction was more appropriate.</p><p>“Jones said it was arson,” he began, but his tongue felt heavy. He cleared his throat and then he tried again, “It urm,”</p><p>Fear gripped him. Something was definitely wrong with him. His words felt slurred and his vision was becoming hazy. He knew he should tell Lucy he didn’t feel right but what he had just found out had to be said first. She had to know everything. She had to be safe. Then he could worry about being ill.</p><p>For that was all it was. A bad timed sickness bug, or maybe the burrito he had for lunch wasn’t agreeing with him or it was just the stress. Or… he refused to consider anything else, he didn’t have time.</p><p>“The fire started from outside Rosalind’s cell.”  </p><p>“So, whoever has been helping her was there!” Lucy sprung to her feet, “We have to let the team know, has Jones contacted anyone yet?”</p><p>Tim shook his head and reached out to hold her arm to stop her, but he missed it. Lucy looked at him in alarm and moved closer to him, her gaze burrowing into his own. “Tim, are you feeling alright?”</p><p>Blinking away the fogginess, flashes of when he passed out from the antidote of the virus coming back to him, he forced himself to continue. “Yes, just… stop… for a second, I need you to hear me. Who can get into Rosalind’s part of the prison?”</p><p>She had to know, she had to know what he had just put together before she could worry about him.</p><p>“Guards and,” Lucy faltered. “Police. But not just anyone, someone with a high enough clearance to speak to her.”</p><p>Tim watched as Lucy’s gaze was drawn to the window that faced the back yard and the street beyond it where their second surveillance team was supposed to be.</p><p>“Tim,” she stuttered, a force seeming to pull her closer to a seemingly shocking scene outside the window, confirming his fears. “Why are Ryan and Danvers leaving? Their shift isn’t over.”</p><p>He wanted to tell her his theory, to explain his suspicions, to warn her. But his body must not have cooperated as he heard her say, “Hey, are you sure you’re alright?”</p><p>The next few seconds past in a blur as everything happened in quick succession.</p><p>The doorbell rang.</p><p>Lucy reached for her gun.</p><p>Tim swayed where he sat, reaching for his own weapon by his hip, but becoming unbalanced in the process.</p><p>His head made a horrific thud as it collided with the floor.</p><p>Mercifully, he only heard it, for he felt nothing as the world went black.</p><hr/><p>Lucy immediately ran to Tim, dropping to her knees beside him. “Tim, Tim?” She checked for a pulse and was reassured when she found one. The feeling didn’t last long however as he still didn’t respond to her pleas. She couldn’t understand what was wrong.</p><p>Meanwhile, Kujo stood barking at the front door, scratching at it as though he was trying to get through.</p><p>The doorbell rang again.</p><p>Lucy picked up her gun from where she had abandoned it on the floor next to Tim in her haste to check on him. She didn’t want to leave him but, with any luck, it would be Agent Johnson at the door, and they could get him help. The agent might also be able to explain why the other surveillance car had left. Had there been a break in the case and they were needed elsewhere?</p><p>Moving as quickly as she could, Lucy sprinted to the door. Kujo almost tripped her over in the process and so she spared a second to glance through the window, to confirm that it was in fact Agent Johnson, before she coaxed the dog into the nearest room. Then she ran back to the door and tore it open.</p><p>“Agent, I need you to call an ambulance Tim’s collapsed,” she said over her shoulder as she flew back to Tim’s side. She took his hand in hers and bent over him, trying desperately to look for an injury that might have caused his fall. She couldn’t find anything.</p><p>The FBI Agent however didn’t reply. Instead, Lucy felt the other woman come to a halt behind her.</p><p>“Agent Johnson, what’s going on?” Lucy asked, not looking away from Tim. “I saw the other surveillance car leave and-”</p><p>As she turned to look at the window, she confirmed that indeed no other car had appeared to take that one’s place. The movement forced her to think back to the conversation she was having with Tim, for the first time since he fell. Someone had set the fire to help Rosalind escape. Someone with high enough clearance to visit her.</p><p>Someone who would have the power to call away a surveillance team.</p><p>The agent behind her still hadn’t radioed for help.</p><p>Slowly, Lucy turned to face Agent Johnson, only to be met with the end of a barrel of a gun.</p><p>“It was you,” Lucy spluttered, raising her own weapon.</p><p>“I don’t think so,” Agent Johnson ordered, clicking the safety off of her gun in threat.</p><p>Lucy rose her hands in surrender as everything became clear in her mind. The agent’s reluctance to admit that Rosalind had help. How she had sent her and Tim to a random house so that they were away from possible leads. How Rosalind had coincidentally phoned in when Lucy was manning the tip-lines. The phone-call Agent Johnson had taken to contact agents at the farmhouse, which Lucy doubted there was anyone on the other end of. The fact that the agent had the reach to find Miss Vandez and thus ultimately help Rosalind kill her.</p><p>“Why would you do this?” Lucy asked, keeping still, but now focusing all her brain power on how she was going to overpower the agent without risking getting herself or Tim shot in the process.</p><p>“Slide me your gun,” Agent Jonson said, as though Lucy hadn’t spoken. “Slowly,”</p><p>Lucy did as she asked, feeling her stomach drop as the agent bent to pick up her only weapon and slid it into her belt.</p><p>“Now get up,” Agent Johnson demanded.</p><p>Lucy turned back to Tim, ignoring the order. She spotted his gun by his hip, but Agent Johnson must have realized too for she said, “I’ll take Officer Bradford’s gun as well.”</p><p>Lucy contemplated trying her luck at moving quick enough to get a shot off but ultimately deemed that it was too risky, especially with Tim already unconscious. She couldn’t risk him catching a bullet. Reluctantly, she slid the gun out from his jeans and turned to give it to Agent Johnson who had moved closer and was now towering over her.</p><p>“Are you going to take me to Rosalind or is she coming here?” Lucy asked. She knew it was useless to try to use the rule book against an FBI agent, but she thought she might as well try to keep her talking.   </p><p>Whilst the extra surveillance team had left, Lucy figured that it was only a matter of time before the next one showed. The agent might have gotten away with sending one team home early but surely Grey would notice if one of his own teams got orders not to arrive.</p><p>If Lucy could buy enough time, the radio would crackle with a request to check in.</p><p>She just had to keep the other woman talking.</p><p>“On your feet now Officer Chen.”</p><p>Lucy kept still. If Agent Johnson wouldn’t answer her questions, then she had to find another way to distract her. “Can you at least let me move him? He hit his head and I don’t want him to be sick?”</p><p>The agent laughed. “No, you may not. It might have escaped your attention but I’m working with a woman who is going to have some fun tearing you to pieces before killing you. I really don’t care about your boyfriend here. Although, I might add, he does seem to have hit his head pretty bad.”</p><p>Lucy turned to see a small pool of blood beginning to seep from behind Tim’s head. Her stomach plummeted.</p><p>“Now get up!” Agent Johsnon, causing Lucy to jump. As she did so however, Lucy was reminded of Tim and how he would similarly demand orders. It forced her to also remember an earlier conversation with him.</p><p>
  <em>Always be prepared Boot. </em>
</p><p>“Okay I’m coming,” Lucy replied. She braced her feet on the floor beneath her, letting them hold her weight so that her hands were free. Her back, still facing the agent, allowed for a shield of sorts. There was no room for error, she had one go at this or else she and Tim would both be dead.</p><p>Lucy kept her head steady whilst she directed her gaze to Tim’s ankle. He was right-handed, but when he had fallen, his legs had tangled so that his right was crossed over his left, closer to her.</p><p>She took in one long, steadying breath. She let it out slowly.</p><p>She lunged.</p><p>Her hand caught metal, she ripped his gun from his boot and spun.</p><p>A single shot echoed out.</p><p>Lucy blinked as she watched Agent Johnson’s face, a woman who she had once admired for her power and professionalism, cloud with shock. Her hand rose to where her top was stained red. And she fell backwards to the floor.</p><p>Heart racing and palms sweating, Lucy sprung to her feet, heading for the coffee table where she had left her phone, alongside the radio.</p><p>She just had to call for help and they would be fine.</p><p>But, as she ran for them, the ground seemed to slide from beneath her feet.</p><p>Her gaze grew hazy, a strange taste rising in the back of her throat.</p><p>She spotted her half-drunk coffee cup next to Tim’s empty one, just as she felt her legs gave way beneath her.</p><p>A flash of red took over her vision.</p><p>Everything went dark.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for reading. As many of you guessed, Agent Johnson was not to be trusted and neither was the coffee. Clever Kujo! Please let me know what you thought! Any theories are always welcome!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Real life got a bit crazy, hence the longer wait for this chapter. I also wanted to try to ensure continuity so I've been editing the later chapters as well before I posted this one. I hope you enjoy it!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tim groaned as he slowly started to wake. From his horizontal position and the solid surface beneath him, he guessed he was lying on the floor. He couldn’t remember how he got there. His head throbbed. His body refused to cooperate so that he couldn’t open his eyes, never mind move. He was consequently forced to lie still and try to put the pieces back together.</p>
<p>He had been eating dinner with Lucy. They had been laughing. He remembered her bright smile as she sat across from him and the ache he’d felt to reach out for her.</p>
<p>Where was she? Surely, she should be there? She wouldn’t just leave him lying on the ground.</p>
<p>He had to get up.</p>
<p>“Lucy,” he forced his lips to move but the sound was pathetic.</p>
<p>Groaning again, he tried to open his eyes and found that, despite being heavy, he was able to do so.</p>
<p>His gaze found only the ceiling above him. The ceiling and the distant sound of Kujo barking and scratching at a door was all he could process.</p>
<p>And then the smell of blood met him.</p>
<p>He rose slowly, closing his eyes when the world spun and pressed a hand to his head. It was sticky with blood.</p>
<p>But the smell was stronger than just that.</p>
<p>Tim opened his eyes again and startled as he saw Agent Johnson sprawled against the wall. From the deep crimson surrounding her, he knew she was dead.</p>
<p>“Lucy!” He called again, louder this time. He got no reply.</p>
<p>His heart immediately began to race as he pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the dizziness that it caused. “Lucy!”</p>
<p>He reached for his phone that had fallen underneath the table and ran to the window. As he suspected, there was no patrol car outside.</p>
<p>Immediately, he rang Grey whilst he made a quick pursual of the house. He found Kujo in his bedroom, alone. Nothing else was out of place. There was no sign of Lucy anywhere.</p>
<p>What had happened? Had Rosalind and her partner broken in? Had Agent Johnson tried to help and died in the crossfire?</p>
<p>“Sir,” Tim said as soon as Grey picked up. “She’s got her.”</p>
<p>“Bradford?” Grey questioned, clearly not following what Tim was saying.</p>
<p>“I don’t know what happened. I passed out. Agent Johnson is lying dead in my house and Lucy is missing.” Tim choked out, despite the fact it was getting harder to form words with the pain in his head and his fear making it hard to think.</p>
<p>Grey thankfully got the message and told him to stay put, that a team were on the way and then hung up.</p>
<p>Tim returned to his living room to stand over Agent Johnson’s body. His own gun was in her belt, his back up piece on the floor. Neither made sense. Nothing did.</p>
<p>Black dots appeared in his vision and he pressed a hand to his head to find that, whilst it had stopped bleeding so heavily, he would definitely need stitches. A wave of nausea struck him, and he felt his legs threaten to give-way. Scared that he was going to pass out, he forced himself to sit on the sofa and wait until the team arrived.</p><hr/>
<p>Lucy felt herself seep back into consciousness only to be greeted with the familiar sensation of her wrists scraping against rope. She opened her eyes to find that she was once more tied to a chair. The panic that flooded her system caused her head to spin but she forced herself to focus and examine her surroundings.</p>
<p>She was alone, in a basement of sorts but instead of being dark or dirty it was exceptionally clean and illuminated by a bare bulb hanging from the center of the room. Lucy slowly rolled her head, fighting the urge to vomit as she did and felt the taste of chemicals burn her throat. The air tasted strong, like bleach, and as a result the space had a hospital sense to it. The medical table which drew her attention, with braces for hands and feet and a tray of surgical tools beside it, completed the look.</p>
<p>Her examination also found no windows.</p>
<p>Since her kidnapping Lucy could only handle confined spaces if she could see outside, or the door was at least open. One particular call, whilst she was still Tim’s rookie had found them in an attic checking for a supposed squatter. It turned out to just be bats but Tim had immediately sensed her panic and ordered her back down the ladder. Through some hard work with her therapist, Lucy could handle the claustrophobia if she were to chase a suspect, and if she was enclosed briefly, but in the rare instance they could be there for a long time Tim made sure doors remained open or that the room had a window. He didn’t support any weakness on the job, but he let her have that one.</p>
<p>The thought of Tim usually brought Lucy comfort, but instead it caused the nausea to raise to even higher levels. His head wound had seemed serious. Between whatever drug he had been doused with and the fall, she was terrified that he might not make it if someone didn’t notice they hadn’t responded to check-ins quickly.</p>
<p>No, she wouldn’t allow herself to think like that. Instead Lucy closed her eyes and forced herself to reason with what Tim would tell her to do in this situation. Even after she graduated, the voice in her head still sounded like him. Deep down she knew it was her own moral compass, that it was just easier hearing advice from someone who she could never doubt, rather than herself. At that moment, she could hear him saying one thing:</p>
<p><em>You are never alone</em>.</p>
<p>Lucy remembered the night he said something similar just as SWAT rolled in. It was their go-to bar story now, but it was also one of her favorite moments of working alongside him.</p>
<p>It stood true for her present situation. She wasn’t alone. Someone would notice they hadn’t checked in and they would find Tim. He would be fine, and he and Grey and everyone else would find her. They did it once and they would again. She clung to that belief as she heard footsteps making their way downstairs.</p>
<p>The door opened.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Lucy watched Rosalind Dyer enter the room to stand before her. She looked more human wearing normal clothes: a pair of black trousers and a floral top, instead of the prison jumpsuit that Lucy was expecting her to be wearing. The juxtaposition made her even more terrifying.</p>
<p>“Well, well, look who’s finally awake,” the serial killer greeted in a sing song voice that made Lucy’s skin crawl. “You would have thought an FBI agent would be better at chemistry.”</p>
<p>Lucy didn’t know where the false sense of confidence came from, but she felt it course through her, similar to when Caleb had her. She let it burn and gripped it, forcing herself to look Rosalind straight in the eye as she spoke. Whatever happened she wouldn’t let the psychopath intimate her. “After 5 years in prison I thought you would have learned some patience. It’s the fourth today, not the sixth.”</p>
<p>Rosalind laughed. “You’ve been out for some time Officer Chen, it’s the fifth now which means we have until midnight to have some fun and then your prophecy will come true, don’t you worry about that.”</p>
<p>Lucy swallowed and forced herself to acknowledge the good in that at least. She had time. From what Rosalind had said she must have been out for many hours. She just didn’t know how long. It couldn’t however be any later than early morning, could it?</p>
<p>The answer wasn’t important, Lucy reasoned with herself. She had time to plan and she had to make one.</p>
<p>“Where are we? No harm in telling me if you’re so sure I’m never leaving.”</p>
<p>Rosalind’s smirk grew, that impenetrable ego still clearly intact. “I couldn’t get out of the city, but my friend Claire let me stay here. I do have more than one friend thankfully since you killed my pet agent.”</p>
<p>So, she had killed Agent Johnson. Lucy swallowed. She closed down the part of her that ached at the idea of taking a life, even in defense, and focused on the name. Claire. She recognized it somehow.</p>
<p>“I think you’ve met my friend before,” Rosalind continued.</p>
<p>Lucy heard footsteps reach the bottom of the stairs and the door swung open to reveal a dark haired, middle aged woman. The sight of the woman made her heart stop for a beat. She remembered now how she had confirmed the woman’s first name when writing her report.  </p>
<p>“Hello again Officer Chen,” Mrs Springer greeted.</p>
<p>“We had some fun with that, I must admit.” Rosalind laughed again. “I was in the house watching the entire time you and Officer Bradford were there. They say its isn’t polite to play with your food, but I do enjoy toying with my victims…”</p>
<p>“They are going to find you,” Lucy interrupted, her heart rate increasing as she realized just how played they had been. How she and Tim had been talking to this woman, watching her children play as a serial killer watched them from inside. “They have the report. Tim will- “</p>
<p>“I don’t think Officer Bradford will be doing very much given the state he was in when we left. It is remarkable really, how much a head wound can bleed. Dangerous too. If it makes you feel better, he wasn’t alone. We left him to bleed out next to Johnson.”</p>
<p>Lucy felt the fire within her explode with her rage as she pulled at the binds to get free. They didn’t budge, not that she expected them to, and instead she felt the friction of the coarse rope burn against her wrists and ankles. It didn’t stop her. She continued to thrash and tort her body as much as she could, even as Rosalind speak again:</p>
<p>“Oh, not to worry we will have you reunited with your love in no time. Rookie and a TO, how I want to hear that story.”</p>
<p>Lucy didn’t fully hear her taunt, too focused on fighting the pain to get free.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you once again for all of your support. I love reading your thoughts so please share them! Did you see the Springer twist coming?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for all of your continued support. Things are taking a bit of a darker turn now so some trigger warnings for violence in the next couple of chapters. It isn't too graphic but there is some torture and possible trigger warnings for a panic attack in this chapter.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tim sat in the break room, his leg bouncing, his clenched fists resting on the table, frantically watching the door for Grey’s arrival.</p><p>Finally, it opened.</p><p>“Bradford stay sitting at least would you,” Grey ordered when Tim went to stand in respect.</p><p>“I’m not going back to the hospital sir and I’m certainly not going home.”</p><p>Grey sighed.</p><p>Tim ignored it. He had spent the last few hours in the ER getting stitched up and he was not going to waste a second longer. He’d discharged himself against the doctor’s orders and returned to station only to be told by the Desk Sergeant that he was to wait for Grey in the break-room. Apparently, his boss had expected his return.</p><p>“I understand that you want to help Tim, believe me I do.”</p><p>Tim went to argue again, as he sensed a but coming, when Grey put out his hand to stop him.</p><p>“And that’s why I’m going to let you stay here, in consultation only because I know you aren’t going to stop working the case even if I do send you home.”</p><p>“Thank you, sir,” Tim breathed in relief.</p><p>“But I have some conditions. You are not to wear your uniform. You are not to leave this station. You have a concussion and I don’t want you jeopardizing this case by being out there. We have plenty of people to knock down doors, you don’t need to be one of them today. Am I understood?”</p><p>Tim’s jaw clenched. He didn’t want to sit around discussing the case and not physically helping. But he knew that Grey was right and, truthfully, he felt nauseous still. “I understand sir.”</p><p>“Okay, I’ve just called for a meeting in the roll call room, is there anything else you want to tell me before then? Any idea how you were drugged?”</p><p>Tim swallowed. Jones, the arson expert, had phoned to give Grey his assessment, something that Tim didn’t remember asking him to do. They were still waiting on the agents, who were supposed to have been outside Tim’s house, to return to the station to find out exactly why they had left. But how Tim passed out remained a mystery.</p><p>Tim thought back to the night for the countless time since he had woken up. It was fuzzy for the most part. Thinking about how he has almost kissed Lucy was unbearable. The last few minutes before he had passed out were hazy. Nothing seemed to strike out.</p><p>He watched Sergeant Grey pour himself a coffee and, as the smell hit him, he froze.</p><p>“The coffee,” he spoke. Grey turned to face him again.  “I forgot before, but Agent Johnson gave me and Chen coffee.”</p><p>It was as though a veil had been lifted as he said the phrase out loud. Dominoes seemed to fall in his mind. The last few minutes and his final conversation with Lucy became clearer. He cursed the effects of his concussion as he remembered that he had suspected it was Johnson back then.</p><p>“She had the authority to send those agents away. Sir, what if Agent Johnson wasn’t in the house as back-up but because she was Rosalind’s partner? She had my gun, I assumed she was planning on using it against Rosalind but what if she took it from me so that Chen couldn’t use it against her?”</p><p>Greys eyes widened in shock. “That’s a big accusation Tim,” he said.</p><p>“I know, but it’s the only thing that makes sense. She had the authority to gain access to the prison to start the fire. She could have accessed the records to find out where Lucy lived so that she could take those pictures. The same goes for Nora Valdez. It was her agents that should have been watching the farmhouse. She was controlling the case the entire time.”</p><p>As he said it out loud, the horror of the terrible truth in his words stuck Tim and he felt a fresh wave of fear wash over him. Rosalind had been using an FBI Agent. There was no knowing what damage to the case had already been caused or how much the agent had helped her to escape, to stay hidden.</p><p>The odds of finding Lucy plummeted before him.</p><hr/><p>Rosalind must have taken a disliking to Lucy’s struggle for she ordered Claire to sedate her. Lucy felt the prick of a needle in her neck before her whole body gradually seeped into a state of numbness. She could feel. Just. The burn in her wrists was present if dulled, but she couldn’t move. She remembered how Rosalind had liked to sedate her victims before she killed them. If she had been capable, tears might have risen but they could not be formed. Lucy was glad: she didn’t want to seem weak no matter what was to come.</p><p>She was instead forced to do nothing but watch as Claire and Rosalind untied her and together carried her to the medical table. They strapped her down flat on her back, tying her ankles and wrists to the supports, not that it was presently needed.</p><p>All she could see was a small window of ceiling. The center of which was a clock face. A symbol of the time she knew she was running out of. Rosalind had obviously put it there to torture her further, to force her to watch as she slowly met her prophecy, her knew date of death. Lucy wasn’t sure she could outlive this one.</p><p>The clock read 6am. The last she read the clock at Tim’s place it had been 9pm.</p><p>She, ignored the clock and focused instead on the faint outline of the beams, telling herself it was only a room and not a barrel. She told herself that they were lying, and Tim wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be.</p><p>The distraction meant that she missed Rosalind moving off somewhere else in the room. She returned holding a metal device with a long tube at the top. Lucy’s fogged brain took a second to recognize what it was: a blowtorch.</p><p>“Now before we have our fun, there’s one thing I’d like to do first.” Rosalind smiled, a sickening grin and Lucy felt her top being lifted.</p><p>“This is no longer your date of death.” Lucy heard the torch light and felt the heat of it on her skin. “You’re my kill, not his.”</p><p>Pain like she had never felt erupted from her side for seemingly endless seconds before the world mercifully went dark.</p><hr/><p>Tim, Angela and two FBI Agents had been assigned to go over every detail of the case to look for leads. Angela, being a detective, had asked for Tim to be present and Grey had agreed that he was more involved than anyone else and might be able to spot something. </p><p>Together, Tim and Grey had reached even more startling conclusions. Tracing Johnson’s phone records had proved that the phone call she had made with a team at the farmhouse never existed. There was no paperwork proving that a call had been made to warn Nora Valdez. The team that had been stationed at Tim’s had revealed that the agent had called them with orders to take a break and that she would be taking over for their shift. Agent Johnson seemed to have planned for everything.</p><p>Tim felt like his body was on fire with rage and fear. He wanted to run, to hit something, to go looking for Lucy himself. But he couldn’t.</p><p>Instead he was stuck in the tiny room with Angela who knew better than to speak to him at that second and the other silent Agents. They each rifled through papers of stopped cars and house searches that had come up empty, looking for anything they might have overlooked before. It felt like a pointless task and it was getting them nowhere.</p><p>Tim closed his eyes to ground himself as he felt his hands begin to shake. Lucy was out there, scared and alone. Images of Nora Valdez’s mangled corpse played in his mind, Lucy’s pictures stained with blood above her.</p><p>He sprung to his feet. He didn’t know where he was going but the room suddenly felt too small and he had to get out before he was sick.</p><p>“Tim,” he heard Lopez call from behind him, but he didn’t stop and instead ran out into the corridor, storming for the nearest exit. He didn't know where he was going to go. All he knew was that he needed air.</p><p>He felt Lopez grab his arm, but he pulled it off and kept going. She did it again and he turned to tell her to back off.</p><p>However, as he did so, the violent movement made his head swim and he felt his legs give way.</p><p>Tim just managed to grab the wall, to use it to ease his fall, so that he finished his descent with his back against it and legs stretched before him. A useless slump on the ground.</p><p>Angela crouched down next to him and he felt her watch him helplessly as he curled into himself, feeling frustrated tears spring to his eyes and clenching them to stop any from falling.</p><p>Lucy didn’t need this right now. She needed him to be out there helping her and he could barely even stand upright.</p><p>Angela took the case folder he had scrunched in his fist before she placed a reassuring hand on his knee.</p><p>“Jackson told me he found you and Lucy sleeping next to each other the other night and that you even made her breakfast the next day. Anything you want to tell me there?” She asked. Tim knew she was trying to take his mind off the present for a minute, trying to ground him in something else as he had with Lucy by singing. The memory made his chest constrict even tighter.</p><p>“I promised her I wouldn’t let anything happen to her,” Tim choked. He forced himself to regulate his breathing, to bring his body back under his control.</p><p>“Hey,” Angela scolded, “No one could have seen this coming. You did everything you possibly could to protect her.”</p><p>“Feels like we’ve had this conversation already,” Tim took a final steadying breath and felt the nausea fade enough that he could open his eyes.</p><p>He was met with a look on Angela’s face he had only seen directed at him a handful of times before: when he had confessed to her that Isabel had left, when he had told her Isabel wasn’t coming back and when Lucy had been kidnapped before. It was pity. And all it did was anger him further.</p><p>But the anger cleared his head and that might have been exactly what he needed.</p><p>“This was an FBI agent Tim. She fooled a lot more people than just the two of you.” She paused and pressed a hand to Tim’s head. He winced. “You should be in the hospital.”</p><p>“No,” Tim snapped, pushing himself to his feet. Thankfully, the ground remained steady beneath him. “I’m fine, I just moved too fast.” He bent down to pick up the folder Angela had taken from him.</p><p>To prove his point, he flicked it open to scan its contents. It was the report from the wild goose chase he and Lucy had been sent on. Another one of Agent Johnson’s plans no doubt. He was just about to close it when he realized, “This isn’t Lucy’s handwriting.”</p><p>“What?” Angela asked, moving so that she could see the folder too.</p><p>“This should be Lucy’s report, but it isn’t,” he scanned the contents more closely and the name at the top caught his attention. “It says here we visited a Mrs Brooks house but that wasn’t the name. It was…Springer. This report has been changed.”</p><p>Angela snatched the folder from him to look at it herself. “Why would would someone change a report that got you nowhere?”</p><p>A moment of realization struck Tim and he looked over Angela shoulder to confirm it. “The address is changed too.”</p><p>Angela met his gaze for a second and he saw in her eyes that they were on the same page.</p><p>Immediately, Angela reached for her radio.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for reading, please let me know what you thought!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Trigger Warnings for mentions of torture at the start of this chapter.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As Lucy regained consciousness, she assumed for a blessed three seconds that she was alone, after which the shuffling to her right proved that she was wrong. She tried to roll her head to face the noise but found that she couldn’t move without her side screaming at her to stop. It was both a blessing and a curse: whilst it proved that her movement was coming back, she wasn’t prepared for just how much her side would hurt when the sedative wore off.</p><p>The clock above her revealed it was 2pm. More than half the day was gone.</p><p>Before Lucy could morn the implications of that fact, the shuffling noise got closer and she looked up to see Claire Springer appear in her field of vision cleaning a blade with a cloth.</p><p>“Oh, so you’re back with us, nice.” She smiled, and Lucy saw the same hint of what she had thought was curiosity, but written off as fear, when she first met her. Now she knew it was the same deep-rooted evil that was in Rosalind’s eyes too.</p><p>“Bet you’re wondering how you didn’t catch me huh?” Claire asked, placing down the knife only to pick up a scalpel. “The kids were Rosalind’s idea, my neighbors' sons. I offered to babysit when Johnson confirmed you were en-route. I’ve been a fan of Rosalind's work for years, even bought her great aunt’s home. A female serial killer. So rare. I studied psychology-“</p><p>“So did I,” Lucy chocked.</p><p>The woman didn’t seem surprised by the voice and instead laughed, “Ah, now you try to make a connection with me even as I stand here with a scalpel I could just as easily press into your skin.”</p><p>“Rosalind wouldn’t let you touch me. I’m hers remember.” Lucy coughed. The pain in her chest was excruciating. She tried to move her fingers and toes whilst Claire was distracted but the movements were minimal still. She needed more time. “She’s just using you like she did Agent Johnson.”</p><p>“No, she isn’t!” Claire sprung towards her, the scalpel coming dangerously close to Lucy’s face. She held her breath, waiting to feel it cut into her skin. “I’m still here aren’t I? She left that agent to die! She wouldn’t do that to me! She needs me!”</p><p>The blade pressed down. The pain from her burn was too strong that Lucy wasn’t sure the woman had cut her until she tasted the blood on her lip as it must have dripped down her face. After a few seconds, she felt the sting of the wound running along her cheekbone.</p><p>“She wouldn’t have you now if it wasn’t for me. This is my house. When that agent didn’t come out, I dragged you into her car and brought you up here myself. Oh yes, I was watching, saw that almost kiss and everything. He really is quite hot, your boyfriend. Shame he had to die.”</p><p>The same voice in Lucy’s head screamed at her that it wasn’t true, that Tim was alive, but it was quieter than it had been before. The sound of footsteps approaching made her hold her words inside. Throwing the woman off wasn’t going to get her anything but another injury, especially if Rosalind was in the room too. She would just have to wait.</p><hr/><p>Rosalind entered the room and came into Lucy’s limited view with a grin on her face.</p><p>“You’re awake, good it’s just not as fun after they pass out. Some people prefer postmortem but that’s not my style. “</p><p>Lucy watched Rosalind move to somewhere behind her head and she heard scrapping followed by a click as something switched on. Lucy could only see the clock and Claire’s face. She watched as the woman’s eyes lit up with excitement and felt her own widen in fear in response.</p><p>Rosalind appeared over her again and raised two metal prods, “I thought I might try a little electrocution. I tried it with some of my earlier victims. You watched one of them get uncovered actually. Poetic in a way I think.”</p><p>Lucy was prepared to give a snarky reply, but the words turned into a scream as the rods pressed against her stomach and she felt electricity coarse through her.</p><p>The first shock lasted only a few seconds before Rosalind turned it off. The woman laughed and it mingled in with Claire’s who was watching with glee. No words were spoken as the shocks started again.</p><p>Lucy closed her eyes, feeling her entire body vibrate with pain. She did her best to keep quiet, to not scream but it didn’t work, and another was torn from her.</p><p>The shocks ended again, and Lucy heard Rosalind say something about turning up the voltage. She didn’t listen, focusing instead on zoning out. She had read books on torture victims, on people trapped in the cold or lost in the desert. She knew to survive she had to retreat inside her head to a happier place.</p><p>Her mind immediately went to Tim. Singing in the car with him. Giving him the books on tape. Him telling her he hadn’t finished training her yet.</p><p>Another shock.</p><p>Tim giving her back her ring. Holding her whilst she slept. That almost kiss. Making her breakfast and then dinner. His rare smile. His even more elusive laugh that she took such pride in causing.</p><p>Shock.</p><p>“It can take five minutes to bleed out.” The words tore into Lucy’s consciousness. “Five minutes. Tim hit his head hours ago. If the fall didn’t kill him, internal damage or a fractured skull-”</p><p>Shock.</p><p>“Then the bleeding will have.”</p><p>Shock.</p><p>“He’s dead. And after I’ve done this, I reckon I might get my knifes out. I can see Claire already started but it just wasn’t deep enough. She needs some lessons.”</p><p>The shocks were hurting less now. Lucy knew that wasn’t really possible and that it was instead her body shutting down, getting ready to let her pass into unconsciousness to avoid the pain.</p><p>“And only then am I going to send you to join him.”</p><p>Lucy let the darkness take her.</p><hr/><p>Tim sat in the passenger side as Angela led the convoy driving to Miss Springer’s house.</p><p>As they pulled up outside the house Tim had visited with Lucy not two days prior, Tim moved to jump out of the car along with Angela, but she turned to him.</p><p>“No,” she stopped him. “I let you come in the hope that Lucy is here but I’m not going against Sergeant Grey’s orders. You need to wait here Tim.”</p><p>“Like hell,” Tim moved to jump from the car again, but Sergeant Grey appeared beside him.</p><p>“Stay in the car Bradford. You have a concussion and I’ve given you an order.” He moved off to coordinate the small team they had gathered. They weren’t working with much, but the falsified report was enough to get them a warrant</p><p>Resigned to defeat, Tim watched as the team approached the door, Sergeant Grey taking the lead.</p><p>The woman he knew as Mrs Springer answered it. She was dressed in all black, both sweatshirt and pants and even her shoes. Gone was the flamboyant sundress. But she had the same bright smile as she greeted the team.</p><p>Tim had the window cranked down enough to hear her chipper hello and mock shock at the sight of the officers. She insisted that her name was Mrs Springer and even let two officers guide her outside the building to wait. Grey told her they wanted to search her property for a missing person and, with the same false naivety that made Tim’s teeth clench, she let them in.</p><p>Time passed. Tim’s knee made a steady rhythm as it bounced off the dashboard. There were distant, muffled shouts from inside.</p><p>“Come on,” he said, one hand on the door handle to prepare to leap from the car when they brought Lucy outside. They had to. It made sense: the report, the fake name, all of it.  </p><p>His gaze was trained to the door, he pictured Lucy walking out, didn’t let go of that vision.</p><p>And then he felt someone watching him.</p><p>Tim tore his gaze reluctantly away to see Mrs Springer, or whoever she was, smiling over at him. There was something in her eyes that he hadn’t seen when they first met, something that he had only seen in Rosalind’s. It was the type of evil that you couldn’t stare at for too long without a deep routed fear taking over you.</p><p>He wanted to race from the car and go over there, stare that evil straight in the face and demand that she told him where Lucy was. The team inside was taking too long. She was working with Rosalind, he knew it but as time passed, he lost hope that Rosalind was in the building. And that meant she was somewhere else with Lucy. His hand moved to open the door, determined to get some answers when the team began pouring out.</p><p>Angela reached him first, a look of rage on her face, “She’s not here,” she said, as if he didn’t know that already. She climbed in the car and started the ignition, but Tim was more focused on Mrs Springer who was being allowed back into the house.</p><p>“Why are they letting her go?” He asked, looking briefly over at Angela who was also watching the middle-aged woman innocently tell the officers they didn’t need to apologize for the mistake. “Johnson falsified that report for a reason. Lucy is here or <em>she</em> at least knows where she is, I can feel it.”</p><p>“Tim, you have good instincts, no one is doubting that. But Mrs Springer checks out. The report’s information was falsified by Johnson, it’s not like Mrs Springer had any control over that. We have nothing directly against her to hold her and we searched the entire house: Lucy isn’t here.”</p><p>“Fuck!” Tim banged his hands against the dashboard. The car moved as Angela pulled away to join the rest of the team in leaving the scene. They were heading back to the precinct with nothing. He was positive that Mrs Springer was connected somehow but if they couldn’t prove it, and couldn’t question her, then they had nothing to go on.</p><p>“We’re going to find her Tim. We’ll look into Springer, see if she had any other properties in the area. We can look for connections between her and Johnson and Rosalind. This isn’t over yet.”</p><p>But Tim didn’t have it in his heart to believe her. The clock read 630pm. They had less than six hours in which Lucy was safe from being killed. Until then, the psychopath could be doing any number of terrible things to her.</p><p>Tim felt his heart physically ache and he closed his eyes. For the first time since he was a kid, he asked any higher being that might be listening to do him this one favor and please let Lucy be okay.</p><p>They had to find her. They needed to. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope the delay in chapters hasn't stopped people from reading, please let me know what you thought!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you once again for all the continued support. I hope you enjoy this chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lucy awoke to the sound of distant, muffled banging. It must have been loud to carry into the room which she assumed was sound proofed.</p><p>It grew louder.</p><p>“Well don’t just stand there!” Rosalind shouted and Lucy heard Claire scuttle off.</p><p>“Change of plan I think,” Rosalind spoke again, appearing in Lucy’s field of vision to see that she was awake before moving away again.</p><p>“I usually prefer my torture a bit more… physical. But you seem like a valid exception and with whatever is going on upstairs, I say we use our time wisely.</p><p>Lucy felt the psychopath begin to loosen her bonds and had to fight the surge of joy that overtook her, least it show on her face.</p><p>She was still weak from the burning and the shocks but the sedative had definitely worn off and, through the pain, she could feel that her movements, (when she curled her toes and subtly curled her hands into fists) were more deliberate, more controlled and sure.</p><p>“I’ve torn faces off, I’ve removed hands and feet. I’ve used oil. For months I’ve fantasized about just what I will do to you. Really the more creative things I’ve saved for later this evening, but I have a freezer here. I hear you don’t like confined spaces much. Let’s try it out shall we. We’ve got all night after all.</p><p>Lucy kept herself as limp as possible as she was pulled up by the arms. Rosalind wasn’t physically strong, and Lucy knew that the psychopath would let her fall and drag her to the freezer which she could now see tucked into the far wall. She wasn’t going to let that happen.</p><p>Her body felt weak, like it was glass, brittle and raw all over. But Lucy forced herself to breathe through the pain and focus on her goal.</p><p>She kept her gaze trained to the woman’s face, so as not to give away her plan but focused on her peripheral vision where the table with the tools sat. A syringe was at the ready, no doubt for if she showed any indication that the sedative was wearing off. She just had to get to it.</p><p>Rosalind dragged her closer to the edge of the table, Lucy could feel gravity pulling her towards the floor as she tipped over the edge. She let the momentum work in her favor and threw her bodyweight at Rosalind.</p><p>The serial killer stumbled backwards in shock and sent the instruments clattering to the ground as she hit the table on her way down. Lucy sprung to her feet and reached for the syringe when she felt the older woman’s hands pull her feet from beneath her. The pain that hit her was excruciating as her burns collided with the floor again.</p><p>The few seconds allowed Rosalind to stand.</p><p>Lucy heard the now familiar sound of the psychopath’s laughter from above her. “Nice try Officer Chen, really good, but I’ll just have to-</p><p>Rosalind stopped talking, seizing where she stood as Lucy pressed the needle into her leg.</p><p>Lucy watched as the serial killer’s face contorted from twisted joy to shock before she fell to the ground.</p><p> </p><hr/><p>Lucy used the rope that had tied her own arms to the chair to secure Rosalind’s to a metal water pipe by the freezer. She made the bonds as secure as possible whilst listening intently for any noise from upstairs. She assumed the basement was soundproof, but she knew footsteps could be heard if they were close enough. They would give her a warning, but it would be brief.</p><p>Once she was satisfied that even if the drug wore off Rosalind wasn’t getting anywhere, she looked around the room for a weapon to arm herself with. The various scalpels were promising but too short range for her plan. Among the equipment was also a saw and various other screw drivers and she felt her empty stomach churn at the thought of what Rosalind had planned for her. She let that determination fuel her to move despite her pain. She spotted a long metal rod that had fallen beneath the table and picked it up.</p><p>Standing, she was forced to brace herself against the medical table until the room stopped spinning. It was as her vision cleared that she heard the clang of footsteps hitting the bottom few steps.</p><p>Lucy ran to the wall level with the door to brace for her attack.</p><p>“Would you believe the cops actually found us!” Claire said as she opened the door. “Don’t worry Rosalind I took care of them. Rosalind?”</p><p>As soon as the woman was in reach Lucy swung the rod connecting it with the back of her head.</p><hr/><p>Lucy raced up the stairs from the basement finding the door thankfully unlocked. From Claire’s comment, her unit had been here not minutes before, she just had to catch up with them. The thought gave her the new  found energy to ignore her injures and she felt the cop in her take over. She had to make communication first. Get help.</p><p>A quick perusal of the living room showed no cell phone.</p><p>She thought back to when she had visited here with Tim. The thought of him now a present ache in her chest despite her belief that he had been here mere minutes ago. He had to have been. Tim was alive. But then again, she corrected herself as she ran for the front door, if he was alive, he was most likely in hospital with a head injury. He wouldn’t have been here. He was either fighting for his life or had already lost it.</p><p>She felt a scream of heartache escape her as she burst through the door and shouted for help. They were in a family neighborhood sure, but it was extremely isolated. Each house had a generous portion of land separating it from the others by large wooded garden spaces. By design each property had privacy and that meant no one would be coming to help her any time soon.</p><p>Whilst her hit had knocked Claire out, that didn’t mean she would stay that way for long. Lucy had tied her to the same pipe as Rosalind, but the rope was a weak substitute for cuffs. She knew that it would not hold long if the woman came to and managed to get a hold of any of the instruments in the room, which she now regretted not pushing further away.</p><p>But she hadn’t had the time then and she didn’t now. Her team were leaving, and she had to make communication with them and fast. If Claire did wake, her assumption would be that Lucy used a neighbouring house to call. Any attempt at doing so would therefore put the home in danger. It would also lose her valuable time if there wasn’t anyone willing to answer the door to a stranger, even one who was in as much of as state as she imagined she was.</p><p>Lucy pictured singing in the car with Tim on the route to the house. They had weaved through many plots of lands with beautiful trees. She’d admired them. If she remembered correctly the slopping hill behind the yard led to a small wooded plot which met the main road. The cars were forced to wind through the narrow roads to get to the house, but she could cut through it and, if she was lucky, meet them on the road. If not, she would be a safe distance from the house to ask someone else for help. It was more of crowded barren trees than any thriving forest, but it was enough cover to hide in as well.</p><p>It was a safer risk to take and so she sprinted through the same gate she’d walked through with her partner not two days ago, around the pool where the children had played and over the back wall, skidding down the gentle slope and running into the trees.</p><hr/><p>The pain of the ground against her burns as she rolled almost caused her to collapse but Lucy fought to stay standing. It only got worse as she felt the branches scratch her arms and legs, felt the uneven ground attack her feet and ankles.  Just as she was deciding if a minute to catch her breath would be worth it, she saw a flash of blue light. Police cars. She sprinted forward and realized she had mercifully reached the edge of the wood.</p><p>Pushing through the last of the trees, recklessly Lucy threw herself into the open. She heard the screeching of tires and looked up to see a small police convoy slam to a stop.    </p><p>“Officer Chen,” the voice was foreign to her as an agent she didn’t recognize sprung out of the leading vehicle.</p><p>Lucy winced at the noise and the light as her body felt like it would explode.</p><p>“Officer Chen.” Lucy moved back as the stranger approached. He meant well, she knew, but she was still in fight or flight mode.</p><p>And he wasn’t the man who she wanted to see.</p><p>If Tim was alive, he wouldn’t be here, she reminded herself. He would be in hospital at least and she should just be thankful that she was safe now. But the relief felt more like panic as a crowd started to form around her. Faces who were no more than colleagues and not her friends on patrol and most definitely not him. Her body vibrated with a need to escape, her breathing labored and raspy, a scream threatened to erupt…and then she heard it ...</p><p>“Back off Lopez, if it’s her I want to-“</p><p>Lucy closed her eyes, tight. She was hallucinating surely there was no way that it could be him.</p><p>The voice spoke again.</p><p>“Lucy?”</p><p>Tim never called her that. He had only said her first name a handful of times. Why was her hallucination calling her by her name?</p><p>The owner of the voice was coming towards her. They were hesitant but she still fought with her instinct to run. Whoever it was, was one of her team, she reminded herself. They weren’t going to hurt her.</p><p>They also couldn’t be Tim. It wasn’t possible.</p><p>If he wasn’t dead, then he was certainly in a coma.</p><p>“Hey Boot.”</p><p>The voice was soft. Too soft. Tim never spoke like that.</p><p>Except he had. A handful of times before this all started but so many since it had. He was sweet with her now and gentle. He held whilst she slept and made her breakfast. He had almost kissed her.</p><p>A hand cupped her face. Its fingers tangling gently in her hair. Just as his had done.</p><p>Did she dare hope?</p><p>“Open your eyes.”</p><p>She didn’t want to. If she opened them now and saw no one then the illusion would be over. Tim would really be dead.</p><p>A thumb stroked over her cheek, just below the cut, as the voice repeated its request. Her eyes obeyed it on instinct. Her dream had to end eventually she reasoned.</p><p>Lucy had always found Tim attractive. She hadn’t let herself admit it too much or fixate on it whilst he was her TO. But when they became friends and she saw him out of work too, when she had graduated and there weren’t any rules saying couldn’t anymore, she had been less ashamed of her crush.</p><p>She had seen him shirtless and wet at Rachel's, had seen him in sports gear after shift, in a suit for a court hearing. The man before her now, looked better than all of them put together.</p><p>He wore a grin he couldn’t hide, his eyes alight and bright with obvious relief, his hand warm against her cheek. His head looked fine from the front, but she expected a decent cut at the back and yet the sight of him standing before her, very much alive, was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.</p><p>She knew she must be filthy with dirt and grass and blood. His hand continued to rub at her cheek no doubt trying to wipe at some of the red she knew it would be stained with. And yet he was looking at her with such raw emotion, such adoration, that her breath caught.</p><p>“Hi,” she breathed, feeling herself smile and then she felt her body collapse into him. She fought to stay awake to feel his warmth as he took her in his arms, ignoring the pain it caused. To relish the kisses he pressed into her hair, despite all the people watching as he whispered, “You’re okay now, I’ve got you Lucy.”</p><p>Lucy had never been one for clichés, for the idea a person could be your home or anything like that but as she felt Tim take more of her weight, felt her pain seep into the background and her body become weaker as the adrenaline wore off: she wasn’t scared. She was safe.</p><p>The darkness called for her and she welcomed it for she knew he would be there when the light came again.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope you enjoyed the pay-off in this chapter. It was important to me that Lucy saved herself. Please let me know what you thought!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Chapter 16</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you once again for all of your continued support throughout this story, it has been very much appreciated. This is the second last chapter, the next one will be an epilogue. I hope you enjoy it!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lucy’s sense of smell came back to her first. For a second, she thought she was back in the basement. The stench of detergent burned her nostrils. The air pungent with a scent that always made her feel sick, ironic as it was.</p><p>Had she never escaped? Was it all a dream?</p><p>No. The memory of Tim finding her felt too real. She was safe. She must be at the hospital. And on some extra strong painkillers because everything seemed foggy and far away, even as her hearing came back to her.</p><p>Her monitor beeped. She could hear distant talking from what she assumed was outside her room, but she focused on the steady sound of someone breathing. They must be close: she wouldn’t be able to hear it otherwise. As much as she loved her friends, there was one person she really needed it to be.</p><p>Lucy’s sense of touch began to seep through the fog. Thankfully, it was muted but she could still feel someone holding her hand. A loose grasp as though they were scared to hurt her. A thumb rolled aimlessly across the back of her hand.</p><p>She knew who it was immediately.</p><p>Lucy forced her body to cooperate and after a few desperate seconds, felt her eyes ease open. The light was too harsh and bright at first, but she refused to close her eyes for too long.</p><p>It wasn’t a dream. Tim really was with her, alive.</p><p>And smiling. He was beaming with more than relief on his face. It was joy and happiness and maybe a hint of something more.</p><p>“Hi,” Tim said, sitting forward in his chair to bring himself that much closer to her. The last time she had woken in the hospital to find him watching her he had been doing so from the other side of the room. Now it was as though he couldn’t get close enough. “How are you feeling?”</p><p>Lucy groaned in response as she tried to sit up a bit straighter. Tim immediately flew out a hand to stop her. “Woh easy don’t move just yet,”</p><p>She wasn’t sure if she had ever heard his voice as gentle. It should have angered her, it could almost be read as pity, yet it didn’t. She knew Tim better than that.</p><p>“I’m okay,” she reassured him, lying back into the pillows. The movement had sent a fire of pain through her, but she ignored it for the moment.</p><p>“I’ll get a doctor,” Tim answered as though he hadn’t even heard her, and he began to rise to his feet.</p><p>Lucy tangled their fingers together, tightening the grip he already had on her hand before he could take it from her. “Please don’t,” she cleared her throat against the dryness and swallowed to ease it. Tim stopped to look down at her. “Can we just talk, just for minute, please?”</p><p>So much had happened, she didn’t want a stranger in the room just yet. She just wanted to look at him and have him touching her, (she was scared that would end if they got company).</p><p>Tim looked to her in hesitation, something he so rarely did, before he sat back down. He resumed the stroking of her hand and she realized he probably didn’t even know he was doing it.</p><p>“What happened?” Lucy asked. If he didn’t tell her now, and the doctor came in, she might be given more medication, which would no doubt lead to her passing out again and a delay in this much needed conversation.</p><p>“Johnson is dead. We got Rosalind and Springer. Rosalind is back in Central with a heightened security team and Springer is in custody. She did have to get treatment for a nasty hit to the head though.”</p><p>“Karma,” Lucy joked her attention drawn to Tim’s head. He looked fine from the front, but she sensed there was something she couldn’t see. His free hand rising to the base of his skull all but confirmed it. “Are you okay?”</p><p>Tim rose his eyebrows at her, “Coming from the woman in a hospital bed?”</p><p>Lucy rolled her eyes in return and the corner of his lips twitched up in a smile as she did.</p><p>“I’m fine,” he answered dropping his hand. “Just a few stitches,” he turned his head, he must have known she would ask and showed her the padded bandage at the base of his skull.</p><p>“Isn’t their observation required for something like that?” Lucy said it without even thinking.</p><p>Tim didn’t answer her, and she knew that was answer enough.</p><p>“I’m going to call the doctor now Boot.”</p><p>“I’m not your boot anymore,” Lucy replied on instinct. Whereas Tim would usually have given her attitude in return, this time he frowned, and she watched his eyes glaze over in thought.</p><p>“No, you’re not,” he said eventually, raising his gaze to look at her from where he had been focused on their hands.</p><p>“Lucy I-” Her heart quickened at the use of her first name. She wasn’t sure what he was going to say but she knew what needed to be addressed as much as he did. They had almost kissed. And after everything that had happened, she didn’t want to waste anymore time on the what ifs and maybes and the judgements and interruptions.</p><p>Lucy tightened her hold of his hand in reassurance and it pulled a small smile from him. “They told me you were dead Tim,” she admitted. If he was too scared to talk then she would start it for him.</p><p>“I refused to believe them but a part of me was terrified that it was true.”</p><p>Lucy watched as Tim’s eyes creased in concern and felt his thumb resume its swirling pattern again.</p><p>“When they were torturing me, they told me I would be reunited with my love soon.” Lucy forced herself to speak slowly and clearly, determined that he would understand exactly what she was saying.</p><p>It felt like so much was on the line between them. She’d just survived another serial killer and yet it felt as though she was still on the edge, not quite home and safe yet. Since she’d seen the letter, her date of death written out again, she’d felt like she was living in a state of countdown. Every second she was running out of time. But it had also felt like she and Tim had been on a countdown of their own.</p><p>He’d been her pain in the ass superior, he’d been her partner and then her friend. The last few days had felt like they were almost becoming more than that. There was a line, a line that said a rookie and TO couldn’t date, but, as she’d reminded him, they weren’t that anymore. Yet she would still be left branded. She’d broken up with John to avoid it and surely this time would be worse after all Tim had still been her superior. She could only imagine what people would have to say about that.</p><p>But she’d almost died. She’d ran through those woods and thought that if he wasn’t going to meet her at the other end then she wasn’t sure if she ever wanted to stop running.</p><p>Everything had changed between them when he climbed into her bed to hold her. Everything. And even if they said nothing now, if they pretended like they were just friends, well it wouldn’t make a difference because her heart had let him now, after years of trying to keep him out. She loved him, and he may as well know.</p><p>“And in the darkest moments I found myself just hoping, hoping that alive or dead it would be true.”</p><p>Lucy saw the second Tim realized what she was saying. She watched as a look of amazement crossed his face and his eyes lit up brighter than she had seen them. She hadn’t said everything, not in black and white, not yet. Tim liked to be in control and make every decision on his terms and she wouldn’t deny him his moment.</p><p>But she had given him hope. If she knew Tim like she thought she did, he would be no doubt think that there was no way she could love him. She’d seen him at his lowest, with Isabel, with Denny, after Rachel. She knew how much regret and self-loathing he carried. He’d no doubt found a way to blame himself for this kidnapping as he had with her last. And that would take time to work through. But right now, she had to make him see that even though she saw all of him, even though there was rules and prejudice against them, she wanted to be with him. If the light on his face was any indication: she had succeeded.</p><p>“Lucy, back at my place, I really wanted to kiss you.” Tim admitted. Whilst he had looked terrified before she had spoken, now he looked confident and sure, just a hint of worry creasing his brow as he waited for the reply.</p><p>She didn’t make him wait long, “And I would have kissed you back,” she told him, watching the happiness she felt at saying those words reflect on his face.</p><p>He froze for a few seconds, just staring at her in wonder. If she could have, she would have moved closer to him, she ached to close the distance. Thankfully, Tim must have sensed it for he rose to his feet to hover above her, his hand still firmly in hers and he slowly bent down until he was a breath away, giving her one last chance to back out. She rose the last inch to press their lips together.</p><p>It was soft and sweet at first, just a tentative peck but as soon as they got a hint for the other, there was no ending it. Tim let go of her hand to brace himself on the bed in order to deepen the kiss, pulling a moan of pleasure from Lucy’s chest which didn’t seem to ache at all even as they were forced to pull apart due to a knock at the door.</p><hr/><p>Tim turned to see Grace in the doorway. He felt heat rise to his face as he pulled back from Lucy to sit back in his chair. He immediately picked up her hand in his again, least she fear he was going anywhere. And perhaps for his own ease of mind too: he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to let go of her any time soon.</p><p>“Well I guess my patient is awake then,” Grace joked, grinning as she looked between them.</p><p>Tim watched Lucy blush and he felt the urge to trace it. It had taken him until he had to finally face the possibility that he had lost her in order for him to realize that it was something he wouldn’t survive. And it was that feeling, that heightened awareness that had been there when she first got kidnapped a year ago, but was so much more painful now, that made him realize that he loved her.</p><p>He’d been in love before and had felt it crash and burn around him. He thought he was in love with Rachel but the fear of it all falling apart had kept him from truly letting her in. With Lucy she was already there. She knew more about him than anyone, she saw more of him and understood him in a way that no one in his life truly had. And even more amazing than that, she didn’t hate him for it.</p><p>And so, hearing her imply that she might feel the same love he did, well it was more than he ever dared hope for.</p><p>“How are you feeling? Grace asked.</p><p>“Better than I look I bet,” Lucy replied.</p><p>“You look beautiful.” The words had left Tim before his brain and fully processed them and he froze in shock, waiting for Lucy’s reaction. She had kissed him, but they hadn’t decided anything yet. Was he allowed to say things like that? But she smiled brightly, and he sighed in relief.</p><p>“Well, I’m happy with your charts,” Grace spoke again. Tim forced himself to look away from Lucy to listen. “Everything looks good. Just superficial cuts and bruises. Your burns on your lower abdomen will heal fast but the one on your chest is deeper. We hoped to do a skin graft, but it wasn’t possible with the damage and the time that had passed before you got here. I’m confident it will heal in time, but I want to keep you in for the next few days just in case. I have to ask do you have any other injuries we don’t know about?”</p><p>Tim’s heart began to race and not in the excitement that it had been pulsing with. He’d seen Lucy’s burns in the ambulance that he had carried her to after she’d terrified him by collapsing in his arms. The EMT’s had told him to stay back whilst they checked her over but relented when he had asked to clean her face of the blood and mud that stained it. It was as he had been doing so that he had heard the EMT’s wince as they had uncovered Lucy’s torso. He had come close to passing out himself when he had seen what had happened. The lower two burns they’d decided looked like electrocution whilst the top one looked like fire. To think that Lucy could possibly have suffered more than that.</p><p>He realized that his grasp had tightened on Lucy’s hand and forced himself to relax it as he turned to face her again.</p><p>“No, that was all they had time for.” She said, and Tim knew she wasn’t lying.</p><p>“Okay, well in that case we just need to keep you in for observation just for the next couple of days to monitor that burn.” Her attention turned from Lucy to Tim. “And you should be in observation for that head wound too.”</p><p>“You can observe me just fine from in here,” Tim replied, watching the doctors stern look turn into one close to laughter.</p><p>“Fine.” Grace had the good sense not to argue and instead administered Lucy with more pain relief when she admitted her chest was causing her bother and then left them alone.</p><p>“Tim, if you should be in bed or-”</p><p>Tim didn’t let Lucy get any further. “I’m not leaving you,” he promised, looking seriously at her and using his best TO voice.</p><p>It did the trick and he watched her concerned eyes narrow to glare at him before they softened once more.</p><p>It was awkward between them again. The air tense as they looked at each other. Tim’s leg began to bounce but Lucy’s hand, still holding his, fell to stop it.</p><p>He looked down, seeing their joint hands again. Her nails still dirty and her fingers cut and bruised, wrists rubbed raw. He didn’t know if he wanted to go to the woman’s prison to face Rosalind himself or to climb into the bed to hold her again.</p><p>“I’m sorry I broke my promise,” he confessed to their entwined hands.</p><p>“You made it up to me when you found the house Tim. It was you wasn’t it?” She sounded so sure that the question could have been rhetorical.</p><p>He answered it anyway. “Yeah, they changed the name and address on your report of our visit. I guess Johnson didn’t want any trace of the location or a possible connection to Rosalind through Springer’s name. They must have thought I wouldn’t check or wouldn’t notice.”</p><p>Tim looked up to see Lucy nodding. Her eyes looked heavier than before and he knew she would be falling back asleep in a matter of minutes.</p><p>“Tim,” she whispered, tightening her grip on his hand, “I think the pain killers are going to kick in so just, promise me you’ll be here when I wake up.”</p><p>“No where else I’d rather be,” he told her with as much sincerity as he could.</p><p>He wanted everything with her, a relationship, all of it and he thought she wanted it too but he had to check. “It wasn’t just the pain meds talking earlier was it?” He asked.</p><p>“No, and it wasn’t the knock on your head that made you wise up and want to kiss me?”</p><p>“No, almost losing you made me do that. And, for the record, I want to do it again, but maybe I’ll take you out for dinner first?”</p><p>Lucy grinned, even as she clearly fought to keep her eyes open.</p><p>“Yeah,” she seemed to dose off before she startled slightly and her eyes flew to him again, suddenly looking fearful. “Can this work? You and me? It would have been bad enough if I was a just a cop but I was your rookie too and-”</p><p>Tim knew she had a point. The damage to her career was a huge part of why he had stopped himself from kissing her the first time back at his place. He’d seen what Isabel had to put up with and, whilst it had gotten easier when they were married and she had moved divisions, it never fully went away. Everything that had happened after that had almost lost him his job too.</p><p>But having come so close to losing her again Tim knew that he was willing to take a risk and date a cop again. He just hoped she was. And if he could make that easier for them then he would.</p><p>“Surviving two serial killers will give people enough to gossip about. But I’ll speak to Grey and if it’s a problem I’ll transfer or take the next Sergeant’s position or-”</p><p>“Maybe we can go on that date first?” Lucy interrupted him and he blushed when he realized how far he had taken his ramble. “And I’d like it if maybe we take the next few days and whatever leave Grey gives us, because you will be taking it to for that concussion-”</p><p>Tim rolled his eyes at her causing Lucy to laugh as he had intended.</p><p>“We can take that time for just us, no one else needs to know yet and then speak to Grey.”</p><p>A few weeks alone with Lucy sounded pretty amazing to Tim. “Sounds like a plan to me Boot.”</p><p>“Less of the Boot. Plus, I think you’ll find I just gave you the order there.”</p><p>“So that’s how it’s going to be then?”</p><p>Lucy laughed and muttered, “Mmhmm.”</p><p>Tim joined her, watching as her laughter quietened and her eyes fell shut again. He rose their joint hands to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back of hers.</p><p>“We’ll see,” he whispered, even as he knew she was right.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you once again for reading. Please let me know what you thought.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Chapter 17</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I can not thank everyone enough for reading this story and leaving such lovely comments and kudos along the way. Your support has been very much appreciated. I started this as a quarantine project and I just hope that I've provided some of you with an escape too.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u">
    <em>Epilogue</em>
  </span>
</p><p>The investigation found that Agent Johnson had started visiting Rosalind in prison as soon as Armstrong was out of the picture and she was deemed leading investigator. There were still victims’ bodies to find and she had used that as an excuse for visits. As for why she had helped the psychopath, they had discovered that Rosalind’s second victim was Agent Johnson's ex-boyfriend. It was off the record, not even an assigned victim of hers, but the psychopath had happily gloated to the detectives about it for an extra moment of fame. She had killed him in brutal fashion only to find out he had abused his girlfriend when Agent Johnson had shown up to thank her years later.</p><p>As for Claire Springer, no connection had been made to explain why she was a fan. She was active in some of the chatrooms Lucy had found before and had been sending Rosalind letters from a different address and a different name but other than that they couldn’t find a <em>why</em>. Tim had reminded Lucy that sometimes it was better not to know.</p><p>It was just one of the many words of wisdom they got to share together now that they spent most of their time together.</p><p>If Lucy was honest with herself, she had suspected dating Tim to be a bit awkward at first. They had known each other for almost three years and for most of that time he had been her superior. But it wasn’t.</p><p>Tim had used observation for his concussion as an excuse to stay with her for the duration of her stay in the hospital. It had helped that Grace was on their side too. He had sat with her, sharing more honest and open stories for the three days of her stay.</p><p>After she was released, her torso still mostly bandaged, Tim remained a steady point. He helped her clean her bandages despite her awkwardness the first time and he made sure she didn’t stretch or reach too far. He did it however, in a way that wasn’t hovering or over-protective but was instead sweet and caring and she appreciated it more than she could say.</p><p>He also kept physical contact with her as much as he could. She knew he was just reassuring himself both that she was there and that he could play with her hair if he pleased, run his hands down her side if he wanted, steal a kiss whenever he desired.</p><p>The only thing that annoyed her was his reluctance to have sex. She knew he wanted it, had witnessed how much he wanted it after make-out sessions or when he helped her wash her hair in the shower, but he didn’t cross that line. He had told her the first time they almost reached that stage that he wanted to take things slow. She had retorted that he was already staying over but he fought against that with his confession that truthfully, he didn’t want to hurt her.</p><p>Whilst her burns were healing, they all knew it would leave a nasty scar. She didn’t like to think about it too much and Tim often caught her when she was spiraling. She wasn’t sure how he could sense it, but any time her mind wandered to how this was something she would have to see and had no chance to cover up, he always pulled her out of it with a soft kiss or a whisper in her ear. It didn’t matter what he said but the reminder that he was there, and would be there despite it all, was enough to ground her.</p><p>After almost two weeks, of which he had stayed over every night, the excuse that his house was a crime scene had worn thin. It didn’t help that Kujo was staying with them and, despite him being better behaved, there was simply not enough room in Lucy’s apartment with Jackson there too. Lucy had therefore asked Tim if he wanted to go home. His fear had been apparent until she said that, if it was okay, she wouldn’t mind staying the night with him there.</p><p>The nights after all were the worst part. She was seeing her therapist almost every day, and it was certainly helping, but the fear was still there, and it usually manifested itself when she was dreaming.</p><p>Tim was amazing, not that she suspected otherwise, and slowly brought her round. It helped having him there and whilst he couldn’t stop them completely, he could help her fall back over.</p><p>And so, it continued. They spent time at hers and at his. Whilst she was excused from work, for two more weeks, they decided not to tell the department about their relationship. On Lucy's first day back, they would meet with Grey but neither thought it would come as a shock and believed that he already suspected it to be the case.</p><p>Jackson, John, Nyla and Angela however, all knew. Neither Lucy nor Tim had wanted to keep it a secret from their friends and they could be trusted not to tell anyone. It also meant that they could hang out without having to hide it, as long as they weren’t in public. For that reason, game night had been born.</p><p>It had taking some convincing to get everyone onside, but the shared competitiveness meant that, as long as they each brought their significant other, they were all happy to join every Thursday as long as they weren't on shift.</p><p>Lucy had been looking forward to hosting and, when the time finally came, she went all out. Buying plastic cups for beer pong and setting up a large platter of food across the dining table at Tim’s. Wearing a flowing yellow sundress and flats instead of boots or sneakers. Buying an expensive bottle of champagne for the winning team, knowing that they would all end up sharing it.</p><p>They were all playing happily, drinks flowing when Lucy’s mother called. She had thought she would escape it for one day but clearly had no such luck.</p><p>Lucy patted Tim on the shoulder and gestured to her phone before she left for the sitting room. Kujo, who had been avoiding the noise in the kitchen, immediately ran to her feet to sit beside her. She appreciated the comfort. Whilst she had been enjoying the evening, phone calls with her mother often left her feeling stressed.</p><p>“Hey Mom,” she greeted with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. Her Mom had called every day since her kidnapping to check on her. It would have been endearing had she not also checked just what her therapist Dr Watson was assigning her to do.</p><p>Lucy tuned out her mom’s usual parroting as she watched Tim celebrate making a clean shot at beer pong, forcing Nyla to drink. He looked so free. So happy. She relished in it.</p><p>He seemed to sense her stare, for he looked over to her, sent her a wink and, with one final shot, finished the game. As Jackson moved in to take over, Lucy felt him approach her from behind and wrap her in his arms.</p><p>“Mom,” Lucy interrupted, stopping her Mom’s rant about the benefits of keeping a food diary. “I have a date for Julies wedding.”</p><p>Lucy paused, turning her head to look up at Tim and he raised his brow in question.</p><p>“He’s a colleague from work and I’ve known him a long time,” Lucy said, answering some of the questions her mom had started flying her way.</p><p>Tim had already started to laugh quietly in her ear, obviously having heard the screams of excitement from down the phone. His laughter however quietened upon her Mom’s latest question.</p><p>“Yes, he’s my boyfriend.” Lucy smiled up at Tim to see a grin spread across his face at hearing it. As it did every time. Not that she had had many opportunities to say it yet. But they had time.</p><p>It was with that thought in mind, that sense of security she felt now that she could confidently tell her mom, standing in his home whilst their friends played in the kitchen and their dog curled at their feet, that Lucy knew it was time to say something else too.</p><p>“And I love him.”</p><p>Her mom almost started crying with joy and Lucy took that as a cue to end their conversation. She confessed that she actually had friends round, that she would speak to her tomorrow and hung up.</p><p>As she did so, Tim spun her in his arms to look down at her.</p><p>“Lucy,” he breathed. Lucy wasn’t sure she would ever get tired of hearing that. The way he spoke her name like it meant more somehow.</p><p>She was suddenly nervous that she hadn’t actually asked his permission and had put him in an awkward position to say no, all but forcing him to meet her family. “I’m sorry to just tag you along but-”</p><p>He shook his head no. “I’d love to go. You all dressed up and a free bar, sounds amazing.” His hands traveled suggestively down to her waist and pulled her flush to his chest. He bent down to whisper in her ear. “Oh, and for the record, I love you too.”</p><p>He pressed a kiss to her jaw to seal the promise and she immediately rose her hands to cup his cheeks and prevent him from moving. “You know I got my bandages off today and I spoke to the doctor whilst she was examining me. I have the all clear for all physical activity.”</p><p>“Is that so,” Tim replied, now trailing kisses down her neck. She stumbled as he reached a particular sensitive spot, but he pulled her closer to him. “I guess we need to start getting your fitness levels back up then huh.”</p><p>Lucy laughed, throwing her neck back, but it only exposed more skin for him and so it quickly turned into a moan.</p><p>Loud wrenching noises and shouts for them to “get a room” interrupted them. Tim shouted over his shoulder that they had one, and maybe everyone should leave so they could go to it, but he was drowned out by John’s victorious whoop as he sunk a shot.</p><p>“You know,” Tim said, his attention fully back on Lucy again. “I used to hate seeing that empty dining table almost every day. I could barely even bring myself to eat at it.”</p><p>Lucy frowned, her hands rising to rub at his chest in comfort.</p><p>“The reminder of how alone I was. It stung and I took that out on you many times and I hated myself for it, for how I would snap at you for caring. Don’t get me wrong I’m not apologizing for my attitude towards you as a TO, I like to think it helped make you a better cop-” Lucy nodded to encourage him that he was right.</p><p>“But I wasn’t always the best friend and I’m sorry for that.”</p><p>Lucy felt tears rise and reached up to press her lips against his. “You have nothing to be sorry for,” she spoke against them. “That table is full now, and I’m not going anywhere.”</p><p>Tim grinned at her, “How about you say you are tired in half an hour or so and then we can go,” he trailed his hands from her hips round to her ass, “and enjoy that room of ours.”</p><p>Lucy felt her legs turn to jello at the heat in his gaze and the need to have that suggestion finally fulfilled. “Twenty minutes,” she retorted.</p><p>Tim laughed, “Yes boss.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Fin</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So that is the end. I hope you have all enjoyed it. Whether you have followed the story from the beginning, the middle, or are just reading the completed version now, please let me know what you thought. Here's to more Chenford in season 3!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I have most of this planned out so I'm hoping to post regularly if people are wanting to read it. Please let me know in the comments!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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